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He stepped back: Nesodden Mayor Truls Wickholm was at the meeting when health leaders stormed in. Photo: Mattis Sandblad
Municipal leaders thought they were going to participate in a regular briefing when the country’s health leaders broke in with the news about the mutated virus in Nordre Follo.
- Oslo and the other municipalities neighboring Nordre Follo can be imposed in the morning hours today tighter measures than when Norway closed in March, VG is informed. Consideration is being given to closing all businesses except grocery stores and pharmacies on Friday night.
250 city leaders in Viken County thought they would participate in a regular digital briefing on the status of the crown and vaccination on Friday morning, when the meeting suddenly had much more dramatic content.
– The meeting was interrupted because we were going to receive an important message, says the mayor of Nesodden, Truls Wickholm.
– We realized it was wrong when Espen Nakstad, Bjørn Guldvog and Camilla Stoltenberg came in and reported on the outbreak in Nordre Follo. We were told that it was the highly contagious English virus, and we backtracked from what we imagined, says the mayor.
Just minutes before the 10 o’clock meeting, the meeting organizer, State Administrator Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, learned of the outbreak of the British virus mutation in Nordre Follo.
CLOSED: Mayor of Nordre Follo, Hanne Opdan (Labor). Photo: Vidar Ruud
– Then we got up and invited the health leaders to report directly when all the municipalities were still together. We announced that the content of the meeting was changed and that there were fewer items on the agenda, says Valgerd Svarstad Haugland.
Thus, the deputy director of the Norwegian Health Directorate, Espen Nakstad, the director of Health Bjørn Guldvog and the director of the National Institute of Public Health, Camilla Stoltenberg, entered and recounted the dramatic situation.
Additionally, Nordre Follo Mayor Hanne Opdan (Labor Party) stated what measures they would implement.
– I did not hear the news until my county doctor, Marianne Skjerven-Martinsen, informed me just before the meeting, and had been told just before. But we’re good at turning around and manipulating, says Valgerd Svarstad-Haugland.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT: The day Nesodden Township finally had zero new infections, City Chief Physician Liv Hagen and Mayor Truls Wickholm had to call crisis management again. Photo: Mattis Sandblad
Full stop
When VG meets with Nesodden crisis management on Friday night, they are preparing for a period of strict measures to end the highly contagious mutation of the coronavirus. At 9 p.m. they were still waiting for information from the government on what measures are needed.
– This happens on a day when we have had no new infections. On the VG curve, we have been on a downward curve and we thought we had the infection under control. We are tired in the municipalities now and the setbacks are strong.
The municipality has had several infections after Christmas and New Year, but this week they have been able to recover a little. Schools and kindergartens have had a yellow level and only a few days ago they were able to return to training in grassroots sports, adults were able to train together with some distance and a ski race was organized for children.
– Now it will be an end point again. It is difficult for everyone, says the mayor, who is glad that the government is proposing joint measures for the municipalities of Nordre Follo.
– We have asked and it makes it easier for everyone, he thinks.
– There was a strong desire of the affected municipalities to have equal measures, and then the most effective thing is for the government to adopt the regulations. They were prepared to do that and we are happy about that, says state administrator Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, who has been a minister for the Christian People’s Party.
STATE ADMINISTRATOR – This is without a doubt the most demanding year I’ve had in this job, with the whole crown situation and then the landslide in Gjerdrum, says the state administrator (former county governor) in Oslo and Viken, Valgerd Svarstad Haugland. Photo: Terje Bringedal
Before the county merger and name change, she was a county governor in Oslo and Akershus, and has been a state administrator in Oslo and Viken ever since.
– Must be defeated
– It really becomes important for those who work with health and emergency preparedness, but now I am glad that we have started vaccination, so we see the light. And I am confident that NIPH, the Norwegian Health Directorate and the government will come up with good measures for municipalities to implement. Everyone is working together to stop this, he says.
On Friday evening, Nordre Follo and several nearby municipalities had a new meeting with the health authorities and the state administrator in Oslo and Viken.
Oslo Health Councilor Robert Steen has encouraged the citizens of Oslo to remain as calm as possible for a few days.
– We must do everything we can now together to stop it. Now we all have to get up and help Nordre Follo the best we can, not going there for the next few days, says Steen.
