Covid-19 infection spread at record speed in high school

Yesterday Apalløkka ungdomsskole in Groruddalen closed after more than fifty cases of corona were detected at the school.

– We know that the infection has spread in the district, and in our school we had an outbreak very quickly. Many fell ill in no time, says Apalløkka school principal Elisabeth Dullum.

Infected but not sick

The chancellor has been in contact with both FHI and the district superintendent, but so far no one knows what caused the outbreak. Infection tracking work is in full swing and Rector Dullum does not want to speculate on how the infection arose.

– When I hear someone start to mention that there has been a violation of infection control rules, I feel frustrated as a director. A lot of infection has happened here in a very short time, but I want to defend the students, says Dullum and continues:

– It is difficult to follow rules for both adults and children. But we have drunk students coming in and out of school, we’ve washed our desks and hands every time we go in and out, he says.

He also refers to the fact that the school has “little room sharing and has toilets in all rooms”.

– As of today, we have around 50 students and employees who are infected, but we don’t have an overview of how. What we do know is that there are more, both employees and students, who have not been ill at all, says the director.

Long experience

During the fall, the school experienced that three or four students were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection.

– There were individual cases and no one else was subsequently infected. Then came this, where many were infected in a short time. We know that several students and employees who were in quarantine were shown for the first time that they were infected in test two, she says.

In the last ten days, new people infected with covid-19 have appeared.

– Now the school is closed, but all school hours are normal despite the fact that a large part of the staff is infected. Teaching is ongoing digitally and we have received very good feedback on the quality and flow of information, says the principal.

School will be closed this week and next.

– Fortunately, none of those infected are seriously ill and some do not have any symptoms. What is important to know is how fast the infection came, says the director.

There are no new cases

In recent weeks, there have been outbreaks of infection in two other Oslo schools, the Music Theater Academy and Edvard Munch Senior Secondary School.

– With us, there is nothing new or new breakouts this week, says Annette Johnsrud Larsåsen, communications consultant at Kristiania University College, referring to her comments on Dagbladet before the weekend.

At Edvard Munch High School, no new cases of infection are known either.

– We have had the school closed for two weeks, but we were very happy when we were able to open the school this Monday, says Acting Principal Annegrete Møller-Stray.

The outbreak was mainly in the first two grades where the students got together a lot, in addition to some cases of contagion in the second and third grade.

– No connection could be seen there. The outbreak ended with a maximum number of 47 infected students, six professors and two interns, Møller-Stray says.

Call the students

The school was at a yellow level when the outbreak occurred.

– We are now on the red level. Half of the students are in school at the same time. A third of teaching takes place in school, a third digitally and the rest students work on assignments, says the principal.

She believes that today’s school is working properly.

– We follow the infection control regulations that we receive from the district and centrally, and we must trust that the guidelines we receive are sufficient, he says.

The school pays close attention when it comes to student attendance at school and participation in teams.

– We are trying to implement more measures for students who are having academic or other difficulties. We also call the students we are concerned about. As of now, there are no students or employees in quarantine and we are very happy that the school is open again, says the principal.