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On January 7, the Norwegian national biathlon team received its first positive corona test.
Lubrication manager Tobias Dahl Fenre had to be isolated shortly after arriving in Oberhof, after a double PCR test under the auspices of the International Biathlon Federation (IBU) concluded that he was infected.
PCR tests are considered much more reliable than speed tests based, for example, on cross-country skiing.
For ten days, Dahl Fenre sat in isolation in his hotel room. He had even been told that his corona test showed high levels of the virus, but from the beginning he suspected something was wrong. He had no symptoms of illness, none of his close relatives were infected, nor was anyone else on the lubrication team.
– Tobias has lived more isolated than most, so this shows that he is regrettable and unfortunate, said the secretary general of the Norwegian Biathlon Association, Morten Aa Djupvik.
Trained like a savage
Dahl Fenre, who ranks among Norway’s top runners and is at the forefront when the elite boys run 3000 meters, finally put in a tough training regimen inside his hotel room in true Bjørndalen style. Some days I would log 26,000 steps in a day and strength train for several hours a day.
After ten days of isolation, he was released and the retest came back negative.
TRAINED HARD WHILE “INFECTED”: Dahl Fenre trained hard for two hours a day and walked a maximum of 26,000 steps daily in his hotel room. Photo: Tobias Dahl Fenre
Initially, Dahl Fenre could have been exempted from quarantine after traveling for six months, as he had been diagnosed with coronary heart disease from a PCR test. It would also be out of the IBU testing regime for the next six months.
But after returning to Norway, where he also tested negative upon arrival at Gardermoen, Dahl Fenre wanted to do an antibody test.
He concluded that he no had antibodies against covid-19. In other words, the probability that it has ever been infected is very low.
– I have informed the IBU about the antibody test and that they will treat me as if I had not received a crown. Otherwise, you would get accreditation without going through any testing regimen. If I’m going to be a bit critical, I find it odd that it doesn’t require people to take antibody tests before running them out of the system. Because it is quite critical to the implementation of the competition if someone unknowingly falls ill, says Dahl Fenre.
– What do you think happened when you were tested in Oberhof?
– They were sure the test was correct and they analyzed it twice, so there was nothing to discuss. At the same time, I knew that the technical implementation of the test was different. Over time I have undergone many of these tests and I know how to do it. In Norway, you put the stick so high up your nose that you almost wonder if you have any more brains left when they finish, whereas that test at Oberhof was just a swab in your mouth. They didn’t go down the throat once, they just carried it on the tongue, says Dahl Fenre.
Critical to management
He informed the IBU about this and thought it was an argument for retesting as he was asymptomatic and no one else, not in the immediate family or those with whom he had shared a car at the airport, tested positive.
– Were you informed that the test showed high values of covid-19?
– Yes, that’s what they said. If you have very high values, I think you should get sick. So I almost stood there waiting to get sick. At least one should think that one has a high probability of developing antibodies when having high virus values. But I didn’t get sick, I didn’t develop antibodies, and no one else was infected, says Dahl Fenre.
Subsequently, he has made some reflections, both about the management of UBI and the Norwegian health authorities.
– According to the rules, I was not quarantined when I got home, but I treated the situation as if I had not been ill. Maybe I was in the store twice before doing the antibody test, and after that I went back to my own self-selected quarantine, he says.
I did not get a new test
Biathlon doctor Ola Berger says that what has happened is “pretty incredible.”
– Tobias has been extremely careful and in practice has been in quarantine since mid-October. So it’s been a mystery where it should have gotten the infection from, we’ve selected it pretty well.
– Most people with a positive PCR test are positive for three weeks if they have had corona, where they still secrete some virus. Those tests are very sensitive. But Tobías was tested again after ten days and came back negative. The same was the test they did when he landed in Norway. So, along with the antibody response, we think it is safer for the team and the IBU to join the test group again, Berger says.
– What does it mean that Dahl Fenre underwent a double PCR test at Oberhof?
– I heard from the IBU that they take multiple patients in the same well and test. For example, they take ten clubs in the same pot and test. If one of them is positive, then they analyze all ten separately. It happened in this case, and then Tobias’s test was positive both times.
– Why wouldn’t the IBU give you a new Dahl Fenre test at Oberhof?
– We had a wish for that, but it was difficult to achieve. It was under the auspices of the IBU that it was not implemented, that was the regulation. When you hear the story, you would have done it in a different way, if you had control over this, says Berger.
