At present, Rælingen municipality is among the municipalities in Norway with the highest infection pressure. Mayor Ståle Grøtte (Labor Party) tells Dagbladet that he is worried about what the situation might look like after the Easter holidays.
– We are taking action now because we are worried about what the situation might look like after Easter. Now there are many who have been traveling, and perhaps you have met other people at the cabin, or other places that you have been at Easter. I naturally believe that people have tried to comply with the rules as best they can, but there has been increased mobility anyway, Grøtte tells Dagbladet.
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Tightens
Together with Lørenskog and Lillestrøm, Rælingen is an area that has had a high infection pressure over time. Recently, Rælingen municipality has also had outbreaks in two kindergartens, which has had a significant effect on infection statistics. Grøtte says that about 70 out of 180 cases of infection in the last two weeks can be linked to the outbreaks.
Towards the end of last week, an average of 25 cases per day were registered, while during this week an average of ten cases of infection per day have been registered. The municipality has 18,730 inhabitants.
Friday decided crisis management in the municipality to introduce a stricter red level of measures in schools and kindergartens, which means smaller cohorts and stricter infection control rules.
Kindergartens are closed the first day after Easter, while schools have digital teaching the first two days after Easter, so they have time to adjust. Grøtte also warns that there may be increased use of digital teaching for students in 5th grade and up.
– We do this both because we are in a difficult infection situation, and because we are unsure of how the situation will be after Easter. The great uncertainty when you have such a high infection pressure as we have, and as this area has, is that there will be an outbreak at some point that makes the situation more demanding. The higher the general infection pressure, the more likely it is that there may be more outbreaks.
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Increase after holidays
An increase in infection has been registered in Norway after both the autumn holidays, the Christmas holidays and the winter holidays. The health authorities have stated that in connection with previous holidays, increased mobility, increased social interaction and changed test habits have been seen in the population.
The head of the family and health unit, Brynhild Belsom, in Rælingen municipality, says that fewer have tested themselves at Easter.
– There are fewer people who have tested themselves at Easter, even though we have had good capacity. We do not know why this is so, but it may be that fewer people have had symptoms now. It may also be that you do not test yourself because you know that you are not going to work or school during the holidays, it is difficult to know, Belsom says to Dagbladet.
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Good capacity
Mayor Grøtte says that emergency situations, such as those experienced last weekend, are particularly demanding for those who work with infection detection in the municipality. He says that they brought in new employees, and that many employees in the municipality signed up to work through Easter.
Belsom says that the test capacity in the municipality is good, that they have free hours every day, and that they can increase the number of tests when demand increases.
– It is of course challenging when many test positive at the same time, as it leads to a lot of people having to be contacted, says Belsom and continues:
– We contact each individual case of infection and map out who they have been in contact with while they have been contagious. Sometimes this is about many contacts that need to be contacted, while other times there are not so many.
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