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Little Christmas Eve was finally the last Russian ship in Sula in Sunnmøre declared free of infection. At that time, 60 Russian crews from three ships had tested positive for COVID-19. Bergen, Tromsø, and Sør-Varanger have also been visited by corona-infected ships.
Sula Mayor Jim Arve Røssevoll (Labor Party) is terrified that the same thing will happen again, when in a few days five new Russian ships will arrive to maintain the yard. He believes that mandatory testing should be introduced for all ships from areas with high levels of infection.
– We cannot be sure that the ships that come here are free from infection, says Røssevoll. Røssevoll’s biggest fear is that the infection will spread to the local population.
60 Russian fishermen were diagnosed with corona when three boats were on the dock of the Fiskerstrand shipyard in Sunnmøre-
Photo: Alf-Jørgen Tyssing / NRK
You can freely walk in the village.
If no one reports symptoms, and it has been more than ten days since the ship passed through a red port, the crew can freely go out onto the gangway.
Municipal chief physician Marianne Bjerkevåg says it has been a very demanding situation for the small municipality of 9,300 inhabitants. She wishes she had a law to hit the table.
– It would have been easier with a legal house to be able to test the crew even if more than ten days have passed since the port call in the red area, says Bjerkevåg. She believes that a 10-day quarantine on board the ships is not effective as they live and work hard.
Marianne Bjerkevåg is Sula’s municipal chief physician. He wants a law that says that the crews will be tested, despite the fact that ten days have passed since they called at a port in the red zone.
Photo: Remi Sagen / NRK
The rules are already strict
Anne Grethe Erlandsen (H), Secretary of State at the Ministry of Health and Care Services, says they follow the professional advice of the Norwegian Health Directorate.
– What we know today is that the rules we have today work well. The ten-day quarantine is important and it’s important that everyone who comes to Norway gets tested, says Erlandsen.
Deputy Health Director Espen Rostrup Nakstad says they are looking into quarantine provisions, but the rules are already strict for those from red countries.
Photo: Fredrik Hagen / NTB
The Deputy Director of Health Espen Rostrup Nakstad understands the concern in Sula, because there are many cases of infection by foreign vessels arriving in Norwegian ports. He says they are now reviewing all quarantine provisions.
– We already have strict rules for everyone coming to Norway from red countries. Almost all countries in Europe are red. This means that they are all subject to a quarantine obligation and the exceptions are very limited, Nakstad says.
– Can’t you just say that everyone here should get tested?
– There must also be capacity in the municipality to actually carry out the tests, so it is also important to take into account the practical conditions around it, says Nakstad.
– Low risk of infection
Press spokesman Sergei Sennikov of Norebo Management Company, which owns many of the Russian trawlers in Sula, is unsure whether mandatory testing is the way to go.
– It is a good idea to have a strict control over all the people who come to Norway, but the problem is that it can generate additional costs for relaying and that the municipality must use resources in the tests. Our experience is that the risk of infection after, say, a month at sea is small, he says.
Sergei Sennikov is a spokesperson for the Russian breeding team Norebo Management Company.
Photo: private
Picky about infection
The mayor of Sula is disappointed with the government’s response. He himself knows that it is a challenge for the municipalities to carry out all the tests, but they must succeed.
– The alternative is much more demanding and is for the infection to spread to the population, says Røssevoll.
