The most affected municipality believes that they could have avoided the infection, if they had defied FHI

The municipality of Bærum believes that they should have “engaged” earlier with professional advice from the National Institute of Public Health.

With twelve deaths, Vallerhjemmet became one of the worst-hit nursing homes in the country during the first corona outbreak.

Since the first patient became infected on March 23, and until the last one passed away on April 24, they repeatedly warned against the rules of what was needed for patients to get tested.

The FHI testing criteria stated that only those with acute respiratory infections should undergo corona testing.

However, in Vallerhjemmet, they discovered completely different symptoms, such as confusion, falls and abdominal pain.

When the nursing home discovered that the infection had spread to other wards, the municipality declared that the entire nursing home was an area of ​​infection, which involved testing absolutely everyone.

“In hindsight, we could have prevented some infection if we had implemented these measures at an earlier stage, but then we would have ‘engaged’ in professional advice from FHI,” writes municipal chief Frantz Leonard Nilsen in an entry to the county governor in Oslo. and Viken. .

– Could not deviate from recommendations

This was sent to the county governor because an oversight case was established after the outbreak in Vallerhjemmet. BT has noticed the contribution of the municipal chief doctor to the report.

Nilsen points out that the attitude of the municipality is to strictly adhere to the recommendations that have been available from FHI in the corona pandemic.

“We have not experienced that local conditions indicate that we should deviate from the general professional advice of our more competent settings,” he writes.

He is supported by the head of infection control in Bærum, Bjørg Dysthe. She believes the reason the infection spread in the nursing home was that the first symptoms that developed differed from what they had been told to look for.

“The infection has probably been in the nursing home for several weeks before the first patient tested positive,” he writes to the county governor.

Dysthe notes that as early as the day after the first confirmed infected patient was discovered, nine of the eleven patients in the ward tested positive.

– Ended up on the “death march”

Their experiences are consistent with what the director of the Gullstøltunet nursing home in Bergen, Eva Marie Lim, has previously told BT. The first infected also arrived as a surprise. They hadn’t seen the symptoms they had been told to look for.

Olav Vikse’s mother, Gunvor Lovise Wikse, was one of those who lost their lives due to the coronavirus in Gullstøltunet.

The five in the hallway had room for the dead. Vikse himself refers to it as the “death march”.

– We thought we had done something good and safe by taking her there, she says.

In the time before corona infection was discovered in the nursing home, it was closed to visitors. Vikse says they didn’t notice any respiratory symptoms in the mother.

– But it became difficult to relate to her. We had to call to keep in touch. But he had problems with the phone and dropped it to the ground, so it was a thousand crumbs. It seemed like we were buying a new phone every week.

You think this needs to be investigated

Vikse emphasizes that she has no knowledge or facts to indicate that things should have been done differently when it comes to who was tested for the virus during this period.

– It’s difficult for me to have a relationship. Not beyond thinking that things could have been different.

You understand that you are being asked questions. Vikse acknowledges that this will be one of the issues to be investigated by the government-appointed crown commission, led by Stener Kvinnsland.

Vikse also wonders how health authorities appear in discussions about the fight against the pandemic. He says he experiences that responses to criticism often result in dogmatic responses.

– It amazes me that they are not more humble.

I changed the advice

Until May 13, after the outbreaks in Vallerhjemmet and Gullstøltunet ended, FHI changed its advice on which symptoms should trigger the test.

Infection control physician Dysthe believes his input to NIPH helped change the advice of national health authorities to also include a greater tendency to falls, confusion, and abdominal pain as the basis for testing the elderly.

BT has asked FHI to comment on the municipal chief physician Nilsen’s statements that they could have prevented the spread of the infection if they had previously “committed a crime” against FHI’s advice.

Section Chief Hanne-Merete Eriksen-Volle replies by email that they don’t have time to come in and see what her advice was at different times. When BT again asks for a comment on Nilsen’s statements, she responds:

“So we gave up the opportunity to make a statement.”