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CRITICAL: Residents Wondimagegn Dessanegn, Michael Zeleke, and Mohammed Abdu react to multiple infected shared rooms that tested negative. Photo: Geir Olsen
VINSTRA (VG) 43 people tested positive for corona at the asylum reception center in Vinstra. Last night, four people who tested negative, including a child, had to sleep in a room with infected people. Violation of infection control rules, acknowledges the municipal chief who granted the permit.
Wondimagegn Dessanegn and Michael Zeleke are residents of the infected asylum reception center at Vinstra in Nord-Fron. They are infected and tell VG that they react strongly to the fact that people who have tested negative still live in rooms with infected people.
The municipal chief doctor, Anders Brabrand, confirms that there are four people who tested negative, who had to share a room with those infected:
– Currently, there are three adults and one child living in the so-called mixed rooms. We are working to get the adults to alternative accommodation, he tells VG.
He says that it was not appropriate to separate the child from the family.
Respond to routines
Dessanegn and Zeleke are among 43 people who tested positive after an outbreak at the reception.
Dessanegn was transferred to Vinstra from Østre Toten last week. The reception he lived in was closed, so he and several others had to move.
At Toten’s reception, he shared a room with another person. But at Vinstra he now has five roommates. All but one tested positive for corona. But according to Dessanegn, the person who tested negative still lives with others.
Municipal Chief Medical Officer Anders Brabrand (left) says several of those who tested negative last night shared a room with those infected. Here with the mayor of the municipality Rune Støstadi Nord-Fron. Photo: Erik Tøftestuen
Zeleke and Dessanegn also claim that four people live upstairs and three of them are infected. However, the fourth person lives with them.
Municipal chief doctor: They may have been infected last night
– So someone who tested negative yesterday, had to sleep in a room with infected last night?
– That’s right.
– Could they have received a crown last night?
– She can. But they have stayed in the rooms for many days, one night from or until is not good, but not long compared to the exposure to the infection that has been. You should almost consider them positive until proven otherwise.
The municipal chief was informed on Sunday morning that the reception has managed to provide rooms for these three as of Sunday night.
– But was the opposite proven when they tested negative?
– A test is a snapshot, they were negative at the time of testing. But we think they are infected and it takes time before the disease attacks them.
Brabrand adds that it is a big challenge that there is an extended turnaround time in testing.
The municipal chief explains it like this: Saturday night they got the test results and made a summary. Then they saw that there are three people and a child living in the same room as the infected. Then the doctor informed the reception that if they had space left, they should be transferred there. They didn’t have that.
– Then we can’t do much more.
– Couldn’t you remove the negative ones and send them to a nearby hotel or cabin?
– I was afraid of doing something unplanned in the dark last night, with messages back and forth. Now they have a calm atmosphere at the reception. I didn’t want to make any hasty decisions that might upset the mood and create concern at the front desk.
The municipal chief adds that he hopes that those who live in positive rooms will be infected.
– Infections detected in households should be isolated. Is it in line with infection control rules to allow healthy people to live with sick people?
– No, it’s not. They are going out, of course. But driving them in the middle of the black night on a freezing night was not an option.
Feeling insecure
Zeleke says he feels pretty bad. He coughs and is tired. Currently, Dessanegn only has a few headaches.
– I don’t feel safe here. It is very difficult and stressful. Dessanegn says.
He says that in Toten he received daily information, was given antibac, bandages and other infection control equipment. You have not received it at Vinstra.
– I have not received infection control or antibac equipment since I came here last Thursday. The only thing I have received is “soft paper”.
He says that he has expressed his concern to the reception management for sharing rooms with five other people at a time when the contagion situation in the country is increasing.
– He said I should make sure I stay a meter away. But how is it possible to do it when you live with six people in a room ?, asks Dessanegn.
CROWN: The municipality of Nord-Fron is now affected by a major outbreak. Photo: Geir Olsen
– Implement what they tell us
VG has also been in contact with the CEO of operating operator Sana, Bjørn Halvorsen. He does not want to comment on the residents’ description of the situation at the reception, but says that the reception is related to the municipal chief’s infection control regulations.
– We have people on site and we are in permanent contact with the municipality’s infection control chief. So we act on their behalf.
– We continuously provide information to the municipality about how things are at the reception, and then they are the ones who take all the medical and health professional evaluations in relation to isolation and quarantine and how things should be done. Then you have to bring the municipality.
– Who is responsible for the situation now being handled responsibly in practice?
– There will be more people responsible for it. We will take care of the residents in the best way possible, says Halvorsen.
– It’s a demanding situation. We have people at the front desk, and tonight we have reinforced the staff to serve the residents in the best possible way. It’s about information, security, etc., of course.
