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CLOSED: Askimbyen School is one of five Askim elementary schools that are closed following an outbreak of infection in upper secondary school. Photo: Freddie Larsen
Askim ungdomsskole closes after several students tested positive for covid-19. As a preventive measure, all elementary schools will also be closed on Friday.
On Thursday 14 new cases of infection were detected in the municipality of Indre Østfold. Ten of them are ninth graders at Askim ungdomsskole, while the others are close contacts with the infected students.
Cases of infection were discovered after the entire step has been quarantined and tested.
– Based on that, we opted to close the high school. Here we will organize the homeschooling next week when the school is closed, says communications manager Mimi Slevigen in the municipality to VG.
All upper secondary school employees and students are now being screened. Eighth and tenth grades remain, over 370 students.
Additionally, all school employees and students will be quarantined for ten days, until November 30.
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Encourage household members to self-quarantine
The municipality will evaluate students and staff first, but not parents in the first place. Slevigen is clear that they are now encouraging household members to be quarantined until the test results are available to those who undergo the test.
As a result of the outbreak, the municipality also decided to close all primary schools in Askim on Friday, as a preventive measure.
– Here we do not have contagion, but we know that families have children both in primary and secondary school. The municipality will return with more information on what is happening with the elementary schools over the weekend, says the communications manager.
When asked if the municipality has control over the outbreak, Slevig says:
– We feel like we are in control, but we have to make some moves at school in order to stop the outbreak.
– Getting ten new cases at school today is, of course, something we don’t want. We are completely dependent on students now following the quarantine period and staying away from people.
The graph shows the development of the infection in Indre Østfold through the pandemic. VG retrieves figures from the MSIS registry for FHI. Any missing update is due to a delay in notifying the health authorities.
