Corona Virus – Experiencing a Dramatic Explosion of Infections

Considering that the island municipality of Hitra in Trøndelag only has around 5,100 inhabitants, it is dramatic that up to 42 inhabitants have been diagnosed with covid-19 since last Thursday.

In the last 24 hours, 10 new cases of infection have been registered

– Yes, it’s violent. This spring we had three cases of infection and earlier this fall we had four. It is not comparable to what we are experiencing now, Hitra Mayor Ole Laurits Haugen (Labor) tells Dagbladet.

– Times per 120

And they took action the last week before Christmas. Schools and kindergartens closed. The nursing home has been closed for more than a week.

And a few days ago, the municipality introduced an order for outdoor bandages.

– We have closed everything we could, without affecting emergency aid. Now we are fighting to calm the infection, says the mayor who is in quarantine.

He has been in close contact with a close contact who was later found infected.

Haugen puts the explosion of infection in Hitra in the following perspective:

– If you want to compare our infection rates with Oslo, you must multiply them by 120 or 130. With Trondheim, you must multiply them by 40.

Had the big cities had infection pressure similar to what Hitra is experiencing now, Oslo would have had 5,000 to 5,500 new infected and Trondheim around 1,700 infected since last Thursday.

– The people is good

Mayor Haugen says what they fear the most is the infection reaching the nursing home. They do what they can to avoid that.

– We follow the advice, tests, isolations, traces of infections and quarantine of the national authorities. My impression is that the people here are good at tracking measurements. I sincerely hope that we will quickly overcome the wide spread of the infection, says Haugen.

The first infected in Hitra all had work in the Lerøy fishing group.

Subsequently, new cases of infection emerged between close internal contacts in Lerøy and close contacts in private.