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This is not a scam, but a consequence of people not answering the phone.
This week desperate healthcare professionals took to the media and asked people to answer the phone when it rang from an unknown number.
– It has become common not to answer the phone when there are people who do not know who are calling, infection control doctor Leiv Erik Husabø told Sogn Avis.
– This is a real challenge for infection detection. We don’t have that large numbers to handle here, but if it increases, it could be a problem, he says.
Also read: Melby with immediate measures to reduce infection among immigrants
The obvious solution
And again, readers are asking the question: Why aren’t infection trackers sending text messages if people don’t answer the phone?
Husabø tells Nettavisen that they have occasionally used SMS.
– But the problem is that many times we have a very bad time. Sometimes we have to avoid that many people travel to work in a short time. We have tested SMS, but it is extra work, says Husabø.
But Husabø says the infection tracking system they use is in the process of including an SMS feature, which the municipality will soon use.
The largest system is being updated
Sogndal is one of approximately 180 municipalities in Norway that use an infection tracking system called ReMin. These municipalities have around three million inhabitants.
This week that system was officially updated with just the SMS feature.
– We hope this can solve some of the problems that, for example, arose from Sogndal, says product manager Ingebjørn Bleidvin to Nettavisen.
– Municipalities can choose from one of three templates: Start, follow-up and end of quarantine. These consist of a text that is dynamically generated by the system, so that the quarantine date, the name of the person in question and the name of the municipality are automatically entered in the text. Then it can be sent with one click. It is also possible to edit the templates before sending them, or to send a completely manually formulated SMS, he says.
In this way, the system can save time for those tracking infections and provide people with faster information.
Also read: The new rapid test for corona can give thousands of false answers
– ReMin appears as the sender of the SMS itself, but in the text the municipality is the sender. The content and time of the SMS are automatically recorded in the infection tracking system log, says Bleidvin, who also works as a municipal chief physician.
– The challenge of people who do not answer the phone was already known this spring. Why does this opportunity come only now?
It wasn’t until the infection started to reappear in the fall that the need really took its toll. Some may have had external SMS solutions that worked that way as well, but of course it’s easier to send and log in directly to the infection tracking system. We developed it as soon as we had enough municipalities that wanted to pay for the service to be able to defend it financially, says Bleidvin.
Also read: Government relaxes quarantine rules – gives clear advice on Christmas holidays
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