In NRK Debatten on 6 April, NRK presented figures for the proportion of children in the age group 0-17 years who have tested positive for covid-19 in weeks 5-10.
In a statement, the National Institute of Public Health emphasizes that NRK presented the figures as percentages of all tested in these weeks, and that it was wrong.
– They had received figures from the Reporting System for Infectious Diseases, MSIS, for the proportion of infected people in the age group 0-17 years in these groups, while Debatten presented these figures as a percentage.
Converted to a percentage, the figures will be a hundred times higher since, for example, a share of 0.05 corresponds to 5 percent, writes FHI.
– I was surprised to be presented live on TV for percentages I did not recognize. NRK’s figures from FHI were unknown to me in advance and in general I think it is very important to always show both proportions and numbers, says Camilla Stoltenberg in FHI’s statement.
The national figures for the percentage of positive tests among children in these weeks can be read in FHI’s weekly reports (pages 8 and 9) for weeks 5-10 – where they are presented, writes FHI.
The Children’s Ombudsman’s three points to Erna
Reopening
The debate on NRK on 6 April was about, among other things, when Norwegian society can be reopened, and about the consequences of the corona measures for children and young people.
Early in the program, FHI director Stoltenberg and health director Bjørn Guldvog were confronted by program manager Fredrik Solvang, who claimed that the infection among the young people had been very low, writes Faktisk.no.
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On a map behind Solvang, figures appeared that would show the proportion of young people between 0 and 9 years and between 10 and 17 who had taken a coronate test, who had tested positive from week 5 to week 10. The figures were distributed on a part of the country’s counties, and was according to Solvang taken from FHI.
And those were startling numbers. In Oslo, 0.05 per cent of those between 0 and 17 who had been tested had been diagnosed with the infection, according to NRK’s figures. In Viken, the figure was lower, 0.04 per cent.
– Do not trust Erna
Confused health director
Health director Guldvog was stunned by the figures, and expressed that he thought they were too low. He did the right thing. In reality, the proportion of infected among the young was a hundred times higher than what Solvang claimed in weeks 5 to 10, writes Faktisk.no.
– Have we known this before? Solvang asks, aiming for the low numbers.
– No, I have not seen exactly this, and I am actually a little surprised by these numbers, so I think it is necessary to go…
– What are you wondering about? Solvang shoots in.
– That they are so low. In Oslo. I’m unsure of the numbers. I have to say that. So I would like to go on to check this afterwards, says Guldvog.
