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On Wednesday last week, Erna Solberg said you should test yourself before traveling from particularly vulnerable places like Oslo and Bergen, and your home at Christmas to visit the elderly. Now Solberg has turned around.
– Basically, you have to test yourself if you have symptoms. Then I told him that if I was going to have close contact with the elderly or people with underlying illnesses, then it would be wise to get tested, Solberg tells Dagbladet and continues:
– It may be false, and health authorities say it can provide very little security. If you come from one of the most infected areas in Norway, perhaps you should practice from two meters away, especially for those in vulnerable groups.
False security
Health Minister Bent Høie explains to Dagbladet that tests can lead to false security and that false security can have serious consequences.
– We do not recommend taking the test before you go home for Christmas because a test only provides a snapshot. If you have no symptoms and have no reason to believe you are infected, a negative test could provide false assurance. If you don’t stick to the one meter distance or hug Grandma, who you have to keep a two meter distance from, then you can help the infection spread, Høie tells Dagbladet.
Quarantine light
Health Director Bjørn Guldvog and National Institute of Public Health Department Director Line Vold advocate for caution before going home for Christmas.
– We do not recommend testing before you travel home for Christmas because it is possible to test negative even if you are infected. The most important thing you can do before you go home for Christmas is to behave as if you are in an area with a lot of infection. That way, you can make sure that there is a very small chance that you will show up at Christmas dinner with an infection, Guldvog tells Dagbladet and continues:
– At the same time, I would say that you should not be ashamed if you carry the infection to a place. Because someone will do that in the future, even if you have prepared very well. You need to be careful what you do, and especially the last 14 days before traveling in relation to Christmas.
Tests
The department director, Vold, also says the tests only provide a snapshot. This means that the test only determines if you have COVID-19 at the time of testing. In other words, as Guldvog explains, you can become infected without the test being positive in the first few days. You can also get infected the moment you leave the fever clinic after completing the covid-19 test.
– If you put yourself to the test and then go home for Christmas, then you won’t be able to shrug your shoulders during Christmas, unfortunately. It is the general advice that still applies. A good measure would be to be a little more careful not to socialize so much before you go home, and to take care of this even when you have returned home. You also need to be careful if you know that you are going to meet people who are in the risk group, for example people who are elderly or at risk for severe COVID-19 disease, Line Vold tells Dagbladet.
