– It was like being back before the pandemic.
22-year-old Sara tells about the much talked about Friday in November when what would eventually turn out to be the world’s largest outbreak to date of the omicron variant, took place.
At half past ten Sara and her group of friends take the trip to Louise Restaurant & Bar at Aker Brygge – completely unaware that they are going to be a part of something that is about to become the world’s most talked about nightclub.
INFECTION PARTY: Inside Louise Restaurant & Bar on Friday 26 November, a large outbreak of infection occurred. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
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– We felt we went back to a normal day, says Sara.
– People everywhere
On the way to the nightclub, she notices that there were a lot of people gathered, but the pandemic was after all a long way to go – she thought.
“Oh, there were many,” I thought.
She adds that the infection pressure was so low during that period, and that it was her first city trip in a long time.
– Can not stop the Christmas table outbreak
Inside Louise it was like most nightclubs. Loud music, people at the bar and lots of people on the dance floor. Or as Sara herself says:
– That’s how it is in the city on a Friday night. Lots of queues and people everywhere.
Inside Louise, she observes many people dressed in dresses and suits, and the long tables make her assume that more people have started the Christmas table season.
BRANCHES: The omicron infection from Louise has received many branches, including to Krødsherad, where Norefjell is located. This outbreak has again led to infection in at least ten other municipalities. Photo: Halvard Alvik / NTB
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Sara takes the trip home at 02:00 on Saturday night, and only when she wakes up on Saturday do her thoughts start to swirl.
– There were an incredible number there. I understand why so many were infected, she says.
Phone changed everything
On Sunday, two days after Louise’s evening, both Sara and her friend start coughing. Both think it’s a mild cold, but the next day they decide to take a PCR test for safety.
On Monday night, her friend is diagnosed with corona, while Sara’s test is negative. After several PCR tests, Sara gets a positive result on the corona the week after the visit to Louise, but it does not stop there.
- Sara’s friend is aware that we are discussing the positive corona test.
Flows in for dose three
The message she receives from the infection tracking team is that there is a suspicion of omicron infection. The test is sent for sequencing, and four days later the phone rings: “Your corona test turns out to be the omicron variant.”
– I was shocked.
– How did you experience being infected with omikron?
– There were very mild symptoms. It did not go much beyond my lungs. You get used to not using energy when you sit inside for so long, but otherwise I was just tired and had a headache.
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– Should have turned in the door
Sara does not know for sure if the infection can be traced back to the visit to Louise, but there are many indications that this was where she became infected. After the solar energy company Scatec held Christmas dinner in the same room the same evening, 145 cases of infection have so far been confirmed among all the participants at the Christmas table.
Thomas Tuft (48) was like Sara on Louise on 26 November. Tuft posted a video on Snapchat of party-minded people dancing to “Mambo No. 5 »on Louise’s dance floor late that fateful evening.
“Corona test next”, Tuft remarks in the video, and refers to the absence of corona caution among the clientele.
Here was the world’s most talked about Christmas table
– You had to work your way around the dance floor, he tells Dagbladet. He continues:
– I am disappointed that I did not follow the gut feeling and did not go inside. But after a bottle of wine and a few beers, the judgment is worse – we should turn in the door.
The 48-year-old from Sandefjord emphasizes that he and the friends who visited Louise were not part of the Scatec Christmas table, where the infection initially spread.
ANGER: – I am disappointed that I did not follow my gut feeling and did not go in, says Thomas Tuft. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
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– We had a team day in advance, and I stayed in a hotel in Oslo. When we went out afterwards, we unfortunately chose Louise. We were there from half past ten to half past two, and when we left, the atmosphere was still high, Tuft says.
Release infection
The 48-year-old says he did not get the impression that Louise had separated the Christmas table guests from the rest of the clientele.
– But it is not their fault, it could have happened elsewhere, Tuft says.
He emphasizes that it was only the area around the dance floor that he reacted to.
– People stretch far now
– Where there are seats, it was perfectly fine. If the dance floor had not been open, and there had been table service, there would have been no problem. But this was before the omicron measures, which came too late, he says.
Fortunately, neither he nor any of his friends became infected – unlike many of the other guests.
– We have been quarantined and taken several tests. Some people probably have a harder time getting infected than others, my daughter has also been infected, without me becoming so, Tuft states.
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