The corona infection in Tromsø has stabilized at a much lower level during the Christmas period than before people took the Christmas holidays. But the numbers can lie, and a full overview of the infection status will hardly get the municipality to get everyday life going again in the new year.
– In any case, we have not had any signs of an infection explosion in Tromsø through Christmas, and that is positive and natural considering the measures that have been introduced. There are also few hospitalized at UNN compared to before Christmas. But travel to and from the municipality can lead to more infection, together with the schools starting up again next week, says infection control chief Trond Brattland.
On Monday, FHI issued the news that the omicron variant has taken over the pandemic and now accounts for over 50 per cent of infections in Oslo and Viken.
The local authorities in Tromsø do not have the same overview. Here it is not known how much omicron makes up of the total corona infection.
– We get figures from UNN that gene sequences samples, but there is a relatively small proportion of those who test positive who get their sample sequenced. Therefore, we do not have a good overview of how much of the infection here is the omicron variant, says Brattland.
Lonely Christmas for many
On Christmas Eve, 165 corona-infected drums had to spend in solitary isolation. But no one knows how many people in practice ended up celebrating Christmas Eve and the following holiday in quarantine, and thus could not go on Christmas visits.
The municipality simply does not have an overview of how many people have been quarantined during the Christmas holidays.
– There are practical reasons for this and it depends on the capacity of our infection tracking team when there is a high number of infected. We simply do not have the opportunity to contact the close contacts or know who they are. On average, each infected person has between ten and 40 close contacts, and then it becomes an impossible task to keep in touch with them. Therefore, we ask the infected themselves to notify their own close contacts, who must then be quarantined according to current rules, says Brattland.
– But is it not a little special that the public sector puts hundreds of Tromsø residents, perhaps thousands, in quarantine during the Christmas holidays, without knowing who they are or how many have experienced this?
– Yes, it’s special. But there are special times and it simply depends on capacity, Brattland answers.
Impossible to keep track
Per Harald Korsmo, head of the corona center in Tromsø, also believes that the ideal would have been to keep track of who and how many end up in quarantine.
– Yes, I see it myself. Ideally, we should have an overview. But it is simply impossible with the infection pressure we have had, says Korsmo.
He explains that there are generally 14 people in the infection tracking team at work throughout the day, seven during the day and seven at night.
– If we have 50 infected in one day, then the traces of infection must talk to all those infected. And they can do it. But then the infected have a number of close contacts of between ten to 40 people. Then it goes without saying that it is impossible for us to keep control of such a high number of close contacts. Therefore, we tell those who become infected that they must contact their close contacts, and then it also becomes impossible for us to know how many are in quarantine.
– How do you know if people comply with the quarantine then?
– We do not know. But it is a question of trust, and we trust that people abide by the rules, says Korsmo.
Infection control chief Brattland emphasizes that there are people in Tromsø who have been reported for breaking the quarantine recently.
– We do not control each individual, in the same way that no one checks whether drivers relate to the speed limits at all times. But it is still your duty as a motorist to know what the speed limit is at all times and to relate to it, says Brattland.
Per Harald Korsmo explains that the infection tracking system earlier in the pandemic was dimensioned in a way that made it easier to keep track of infected and close contacts.
In addition, there were far fewer people infected in total, due to the fact that the measures against the spread of infection nationally were far stronger.
– If we then got 20 infected in one day, it was considered a major outbreak, and we brought in emergency teams, which the municipality had prepared in advance, who worked to contact the close contacts. It took a lot more time then, but it was another phase of the pandemic. To the extent that we track close contacts now, it is only the closest close contacts and possibly institutions where there is infection, says Korsmo.
Crucial weeks ahead
On Wednesday, the FHI estimated the number of r, ie the number of people that each infected person passes on, nationally to be 0.9.
In Troms and Finnmark, the r-number is also estimated at 0.9, which indicates that the infection pressure is declining. In comparison, this figure is 1.2 in Oslo last week.
While the omicron virus now dominates in central parts of Eastern Norway, only 8 cases of omicron in Troms and Finnmark were found in FHI’s weekly report in the Christmas week, ie week 51. But so few samples have been sent for sequencing that this number is attached to large insecurity.
There is therefore great excitement about how the development of infection in Tromsø will develop further.
Infection control doctor Brattland says that there are mainly two possible scenarios ahead.
– One alternative is that omicron is so contagious that it spreads everywhere despite the measures. Then we get a big wave of infection in January. Alternative two is that vaccination and measures manage to keep the large peak of infection away, so that the spread of infection is flattened out over time and we avoid overloading the health care system. Then you will eventually let go of the measures and let the infection spread. January will therefore be a crucial month in the further development of the pandemic, says Brattland
The quarantine rules
The rules for quarantine have gradually become relatively complicated, with a number of exceptions. Here we try to keep the tongue straight in the mouth and reproduce the rules:
- In principle, the quarantine lasts for ten days after contact with an infected person.
- There is a strict distinction between quarantine as a result of you being in close contact, or whether there is an infection in your own household.
- For household members, you must first count four days from the household member having symptoms of illness or taking a positive test. After these four days, your ten-day quarantine begins. You are therefore in quarantine for 4 + 10 days.
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You can test yourself out of the work or school quarantine no earlier than day 3. The exemption applies from the time you receive a negative test result. But you must still be in the leisure quarantine until you eventually test yourself with a PCR test or quick test at home on day 7.
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If this applies to infection in your own household, you must take a quick test every single day until 7 days have passed to test yourself out of the quarantine.
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Children under the age of 18 are released from quarantine as long as there is no question of household members. But these are recommended tests on day 3 and on day 7. Self-test or test at the municipality’s test station.
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If you have taken the third vaccine dose, and more than one week has passed, you will be released from quarantine and you will be released from the rigid test program that you must go through in the event of infection in your own household.
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If you have had covid-19 during the last 3 months, you are exempt from being quarantined.
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