Infection among young people in Oslo has increased sharply.
– We have never seen so much infection among the younger ones as we do now, said City Councilor Raymond Johansen (Labor Party) at a press conference Tuesday.
Due to the development, the city council leadership introduced tightenings for children and young people on Tuesday, a group the authorities would prefer to shield from strict measures.
Part of the reason for the high level of infection may be that it is more difficult for the younger age groups to follow the infection control rules.
Assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad says that it is against the biological needs of children and young people to put on a leash in play and contact with friends.
– It is very important for development to be able to meet peers and spend time with them. This is one of the reasons why it is so difficult for children and young people to follow the infection control rules, even though they are shielded from many of the strictest rules that adults must abide by, says Nakstad.
Infection control experts provide a range of advice to young people and their parents that can help reverse the trend.
Several reasons
Chief physician and researcher Christopher Inchley points to several reasons why the infection among young people is increasing.
– DIFFICULT: Chief physician Christopher Inchley believes it can be more difficult to detect coronary heart disease in children as the symptoms are often mild. Photo: Private
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– In Oslo, the focus has been on a strengthened TISK strategy. Increased testing results in more cases being detected, so that is probably one of the reasons why infection rates are increasing among young people, he says.
The superior himself recently experienced that the entire class of the youngest man was quarantined after a teacher had been diagnosed with an infection.
– Then we were told to test ourselves immediately. This is important so that one can detect the “silent infection” in people who have not yet developed symptoms, says Inchley.
Another explanation for the high level of infection may also be that young people have large cohorts.
– They meet many more people than most adults do. In a class where a student becomes ill, more people risk becoming infected and the whole class ends up in quarantine, says the superior.
«Silent carriers»
– We hardly see seriously ill children, and it is very rare for young people to be admitted to hospital with corona, says Inchley, who until recently was section chief at the pediatric clinic in Ahus.
Children can be infected as easily as adults, but may not get symptoms as often. They can thus be «silent carriers».
– As the course of the disease is often mild in young people, there will be a larger proportion who do not know that they are infected. They may not experience the usual symptoms such as losing their sense of smell and taste, and may easily overlook itching in the throat, says Inchley.
He therefore encourages parents to take the symptoms seriously.
VULNERABLE: Espen Rostrup Nakstad says that schools and kindergartens are often extra vulnerable to infection. Photo: Goran Jorganovich / TV 2
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– It is important to take the symptoms seriously. If the child has abdominal pain in the morning, it may be a good idea to keep the child at home until you see that it passes and that there are no more symptoms of coronary heart disease, says the superior.
In addition, he encourages young people and their parents to have a low threshold for testing.
– The best measure to detect and stop the infection in children and young people is to test more often, so we should have a low threshold for this, says Inchley.
Schools and kindergartens are vulnerable
Nakstad believes that the main reason for the high level of infection among young people is that the new virus variants more easily enter the cells in the respiratory tract, also in children.
– Therefore, you can be infected by fewer virus particles than before. Then even the smallest drops in the air mean more for the risk of infection, so-called airborne infection. This means that you can probably be infected even if you keep a good distance from another person indoors, he says.
INFECTING MORE: Chief physician Margrethe Greve-Isdahl at the National Institute of Public Health says that both the “old” coronary variant and the English variant have the lowest infectivity among children, but the English variant is more contagious in all age groups, says the superior. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB
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The risk of infection is thus particularly great indoors where many people gather over a longer period of time. Therefore, schools and kindergartens are particularly vulnerable.
The Norwegian Directorate of Health therefore believes that it is important to limit how many different people a pupil has contact with throughout the school day and that the pupils keep the greatest possible distance from each other.
– It is also important to test especially the oldest students regularly so that new cases of infection can be stopped before they spread at school, says Nakstad.
He also encourages parents to spend time explaining to their children the rules of infection control and that they follow up on how many they are with in their free time.
– In addition, it is of course important that families in quarantine maintain the quarantine obligation, says the assistant health director.
IN CONCLUSION: “It will be good”, many have written in the last year. Here, children have painted drawings. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB
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Difficult balancing act
Chief physician Inchley says that his children have their defined close contacts.
– They are lucky and have one or two regular friends they spend a lot of time with. Nevertheless, there is a very difficult balance between infection control and consideration for social development and mental health in young people. Children should not have to be at home all the time and must get some freedom from their parents, says Inchley.
He therefore believes that the most important thing is to get vaccinated at the risk groups.
– It is best for the infection among the young to have the least possible consequences for society as a whole, says the superior.
Effective
Chief physician Margrethe Greve-Isdahl at the National Institute of Public Health points to many of the same reasons as Inchley and Nakstad as to why there is now a lot of infection among children and young people and why it is difficult for them to follow the rules.
Her advice to parents is to remind young people to remember to follow the infection control rules and try to limit the number of close contacts, even though many are bored now.
FRIENDS: The fact that young people do not get very ill, and that it is in their age, nature and development to be with friends a lot, is the reason why it is difficult for them to follow the advice, says Greve-Isdahl in FHI. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
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Greve-Isdahl believes that the red level in kindergartens, primary schools and upper secondary schools is a good tool for limiting the number of close contacts better.
– We know that the red level has been effective before. The infection has decreased at upper secondary schools after the red level was introduced, she says.
Must evaluate the measures
The superior says that it is demanding with infection control in schools, because especially the upper secondary schools are organized so that one can have different subjects and different teachers.
Next week, NIPH will provide feedback to the Ministry of Health and Care Services on changes to the traffic light model.
Among the measures that Oslo announced on Tuesday, in addition to the red level, will be closed all indoor leisure activities and leisure clubs for children and young people.
Director of Health Bjørn Guldvog has also said that the Norwegian Directorate of Health is considering whether we must increase the distance from one to two meters and whether it may be appropriate to introduce face masks in schools.
Both The Education Association and the Student Organization are open to this, if recommended by the health authorities.
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