Explosive infection caused in the Polish workplace

The major new outbreak in Trondheim is partly related to a Polish work environment. A total of 10 of the 27 infected are labor immigrants from Poland, municipal chief doctor Tove Røsstad in Trondheim told Dagbladet.

The other infected are co-workers or social contacts of Polish workers, he further states.

– Since all 27 people belong to the same outbreak, we can assume with high probability that they are all infected with the same variant of the virus, says the municipal chief.

At Wednesday’s extraordinary meeting of the presidency on stricter infection control standards in the first week, Health and Welfare Director Helge Garåsen took the following example of calculating the explosive power of infection in mutated viruses:

– Compared to the Ulvik population in Hardanger, we would have had 20,000 infected in Trondheim in two weeks.

Neither av nor

By Tuesday, Trondheim health authorities had received responses to nine of the positive samples that were tested for the British variant. All nine show that the infection comes from the so-called British virus mutation.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there were no more results from the so-called sequence tests.

For just over three weeks since the New Year, only one case of the British mutation virus was recorded in Trondheim.

A man who came from abroad tested positive at the border station and was placed directly in isolation.

Then came the first of the 27 positive tests currently in the new outbreak in late January.

Does not go into details

According to the municipal chief, he was the first of ten working immigrants with positive covid-19 from Poland. Several worked at the Smith Stål facility, which is owned by EA Smith in Heimdal.

– Twelve who worked for us or with us, including all subcontractors and drivers, are infected, EA Smith CEO Arne Reinertsen tells Dagbladet.

It highlights that seven employees are infected. All of them have permanent residence in Norway, and some of them have now been declared healthy, Reinertsen says.

– The first information we received about the infection at Smith Steel was on January 30th. The business was closed the same day and is still closed. On Friday, February 5, we received information that it was the mutated variant, says the manager of the owner company.

For privacy reasons, Reinertsen does not want to go into more detail about the infected individuals affiliated with Smith, including their nationality.

– Some of them are of foreign origin. The foreign subcontractors working with us had been quarantined and tested negative twice before meeting at the facility, and the infection control office cleared it in advance, he says, continuing:

– As confirmed by the municipality, we have had good infection control measures and none of our employees have violated quarantine or isolation rules.

Trondheim: – virus mutated out of control

Alarm after two weeks

The alarm sounded just over two weeks after the first positive test. On Monday, one of the employees at the Bygger’n building materials store in Heimdal was also found infected. EA Smith also owns the Bygger’n building materials chain.

The sale in Heimdal is located in a building in the same area as Smith Stål.

The store was closed, all approx. The 130 customers in the store from February 1-5 have been summoned for a test and have been quarantined along with those living under the same roof.

Several hundred in isolation

This means that several hundred people in Trondheim are quarantined and temporarily quarantined until new test results are available.

– Bygger’n employee tested negative for the first time and was at work between February 1 and 5. Then a new test was made this Sunday, which gave answers about the covid-19 infection, explains the municipal chief.

Therefore, the infection outbreak in Trondheim can be much larger when all 130 clients have been evaluated and the results arrive.

– The good thing about this situation is that there has been an order for masks in Trondheim since before the new year. And the employee in the building materials business, who now received a positive test, used a bandage in contact with customers, says municipal chief doctor Tove Røsstad.

QR code

So how did the health authorities get an overview of the customers who were at Bygger’n in Heimdal last week?

– Fortunately, we had visitor registration with QR code and good information on payment and sales statistics. So we deliver good lists of infection traces, CEO Reinertsen writes to Adresseavisen.

The municipal chief asks that visitors who have not registered, contact the crown telephone in Trondheim.

– What does the municipal superior think that Bygger’n på Heimdal has plans to reopen already on Thursday?

– The premises are washed and disinfected. And there will be new staff. So it should be trouble free, says Tove Røsstad.

CEO Arne Reinertsen announced Wednesday that the facility has been disinfected and prepared for opening.