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On Monday evening, the Oslo municipality press conference on the new infection control measures was postponed 30 minutes until 6.30 pm. Health advisor Robert Steen believes hectic work activity was a contributing factor to the postponement.
– How long before the press conference was the decision made?
– I think the formal decision we were supposed to make here at the 6.30pm press conference was made an hour earlier, Steen tells Dagbladet.
– Was there a factor that contributed to the postponement?
– It was probably part of the image, I think so.
Agitation
The Health Council investigates the cause of the riots in the Oslo City Council, which triggered a lively meeting on Sunday and Monday.
First, 1967 new cases of infection were recorded in week 10, representing a 48% increase over the previous week and a new weekly record in Oslo. Second, it was observed that the infection pressure increased more among children and young people in the age group 0-15 years.
– It is a completely new situation that we have not seen before. Also, we started getting messages from hospitals that places are filling up very fast. We have gone from 18 admissions four weeks ago to 121. We have seen for the first time in the pandemic that people born in the 90s are admitted to hospitals. All of this started to surface towards the end of the week, and that’s what prompted the discussions Sunday and Monday, Steen says.
Meeting activities
Councilman Raymond Johansen also tells Dagbladet that it was the infection numbers that triggered the hectic gathering activities on Sunday. The same is said to Dagbladet by the school councilor, Inga Marte Thorkildsen.
Oslo leaders say there have been internal meetings in the city council leader’s office, as well as meetings between the city council leader’s office and the health council, and meetings between the city council leader’s office and the school council . They also say that the Municipality of Oslo has been in dialogue with both the Norwegian Health Directorate and the National Institute of Public Health.
– He’s very into this. At the same time, it is the case that in such situations, there are certainly people who would have wanted us to just shut everything down for 14 days, but we haven’t. We have taken drastic measures, but not so drastic, says Councilmember Johansen.
Hectic day
Thorkildsen tells Dagbladet that he has been agitated.
– It was very, very hectic. You don’t go for something like that with a light heart. I know what the consequences could be and, at the same time, I know what the consequences could be if we don’t. The result will not be good anyway.
She says they argued most of Monday.
– We talk back and forth, we have also waited for the infection control doctor’s assessment because it has been important to us. In addition, we have been in dialogue with FHI and the Norwegian Health Directorate, and we have made some rounds with the city council. So we stayed most of the day, he says.
Disagreement
Councilor Johansen acknowledged at the press conference that there was some disagreement about the school closure between health authorities and the city hall, but explained that local knowledge of the Oslo municipality ultimately weighed more.
– We were probably a little clearer that we wanted to close upper secondary schools and high schools, while FHI perhaps thought we should try the red level of action for a bit more if we had no other reasons to close, says Johansen and continues:
– We have found that the ability to track infections is now under heavy pressure, with so many new cases of infection that we cannot risk the system crashing. If the system stops working, we will not be able to do the infection tracking work and then we will have dramatic consequences. Therefore, we believed, which FHI respects and recognizes, that we had to take the step of introducing homeschooling for middle and high school students.
Kindergarten grip
Thorkildsen says that in the future they will discuss whether there is a need to make more moves related to the kindergartens, which are currently only closed during Easter week.
– Health authorities are also concerned that you also have to see if it is the case that you cannot maintain a good enough supply as a result of constant closures, quarantines, that people get sick and that you cannot get substitutes. This too must count, and that is what it has done.
– Especially in the worst affected districts, employees have been under a very heavy load. So the next thing now is that we have to look at the kindergarten situation there and see if there is a need to take action for more kindergartens as well.
