Quarantined nursing home employees are sent to work – VG

“We are in a situation of staff pressure,” Skien municipal chief doctor Vegar Høgli tells VG.

On December 22, the municipality of Skien reached a new peak of infection. They then registered 41 new cases of infection in one day.

Five days later, the situation continues to be serious for the municipality.

According to VG’s corona summary, Skien still has an increasing infection trend, with 482 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.

This is almost three times more than Oslo, which recorded 173 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the same period.

After outbreaks of infection were discovered among both employees and residents of a total of four nursing homes, the municipality has now chosen to use the emergency clause in the covid-19 regulations to provide exceptions to the rules of quarantine for nursing home employees.

Now employees who should have been quarantined must work with a full infection control team.

– The last tool we have

The municipality was forced to implement this measure after several employees had to be quarantined and the number of temporary workers did not increase.

– We are in a situation in which the ability to maintain the functioning of the nursing homes is questioned, explains the municipal chief.

– Because the reach is so great in many nursing homes, we simply have to do this to keep the operation going and ensure good and adequate care for residents and employees.

The quarantine exception lasts from Christmas Eve and at least ten days before.

– This is the last tool we have now. We want employees in quarantine until the new year, says Høgli.

Township Mayor Hedda Foss Five (Labor Party) says they were prepared for this to be a problem this Christmas:

– We were prepared for the fact that it could be a very difficult staffing situation at Christmas if our infection rates remained high. In general, it is difficult to staff at Christmas, even when there is no pandemic, explains the mayor.

Worried about more infections after the Christmas party

Although Skien recorded 15 cases on Christmas Eve and 21 cases on Christmas Day, the municipal chief believes that this small flattening of infection cases may be due to fewer people being tested this Christmas.

– It may be because there are holidays and now there are fewer that have been tried, says the municipal chief and adds:

– I’m worried about what will happen when the Christmas holidays are celebrated and people test themselves again.

Skien municipality now has an infection monitoring team of about 40 people. Although it is the Christmas holidays, many are still working.

– Right now, we’re concentrating more on tracking close contacts, as this is where we’ve seen the most infections now, Høgli says.

Mayor Five believes that the situation could have been worse than it is today.

– We have not had major outbreaks or dramatic infection situations, but we fight because the number of infections is persistently high.

She says that most cases have known routes of infection, which greatly facilitates the work of infection detection for the municipality.

– I am concerned because the numbers are still high, but I am calm because it is the same contagion situation all the way, says the mayor.

Considering the austerity in Christmas space

The municipality will now conduct ongoing evaluations in the coming days, both in regards to the quarantine exemption for employees in the corresponding nursing home and any tightening of local measures.

– We are considering new measures. We are also in permanent dialogue with the National Institute of Public Health to evaluate what new measures may be relevant. We continue almost from hour to hour, says the municipal chief.

The municipality currently has 17 local measures, in addition to the national ones.

They have, among other things, a ban on private gatherings of more than 10 people, a stop to drink after 10 at night and a ban on bandages in public transport, shops and shopping centers.

The mayor says she has signaled to the municipality’s presidency that it may be relevant with toughening up during the Christmas holidays.

– Then it is important to focus on what you do, so the question is what measures you have left, which can also have an effect. We have taken many austerity measures and people are starting to get tired and bored.

Regarding the exemption from quarantine for employees, the municipal superior does not have the opportunity to give an exact answer on how long it will last.

There have been a total of employees in quarantine in four nursing homes in the municipality and infected residents in two of them.

– We have had a good dialogue with employees and relatives, but I cannot answer how long it will last.