Several municipalities have introduced a quarantine obligation for children under 18 years of age. They thus have stricter infection control measures for the children than in the rest of the country.
–
According to national rules, it is only if someone in the household (or similarly close) is infected that there is a quarantine obligation for children under 18 years of age. Several municipalities are now introducing local regulations so that everyone under the age of 18 must also be quarantined at Christmas.
Øygarden, Askøy, Alver, Samnanger and Ålesund have earlier this week introduced a separate regulation which states that all children under the age of 18 must also be quarantined at Christmas. The regulation will last until December 21.
Samnanger municipality introduces a quarantine obligation until 21 December.
Råde municipality also introduced the quarantine obligation for everyone under the age of 18 from Friday 17 December.
The regulations have been adopted with effect from Friday 17 December 2021 and apply in the period up to and including 4 January 2022.
Lindesnes municipality introduced a quarantine obligation for children on 16 December. Lyngdal municipality has done the same. Their regulation will last until January 9th.
Does your municipality have a quarantine obligation for children? Tip us at [email protected].
Sogndal municipality also introduced a separate regulation on quarantine, which led to Sokndal school switching to home schooling.
– As a result of local regulations on quarantine, it becomes operationally challenging to have enough staff in the school to operate properly at the yellow level. Already now the school has several employees absent from work due to quarantine, self-report, sick leave and sick children, the municipality writes on its websites.
Eigersund has also introduced a quarantine obligation.
– We have seen ourselves forced to introduce a quarantine obligation for people under the age of 18, set all schools and kindergartens at a yellow level, they wrote on 12 December.
–Notodden municipality also introduced a local quarantine regulation on Thursday 16 December.
– There is a lot of infection in schools and kindergartens now, and that is the reason why the municipality introduces a local regulation. But, it will still be Christmas, emphasizes municipal chief physician and infection control manager Mie Jørgensen and municipal manager for upbringing, Jan Erik Søhol to Telen.
Nittedal municipality also has a local regulation that those under 18 must be in quarantine infection. Sula and Gisle municipality have the same.
Asker and Bærum recommend stricter measures
Children and young people have been exempted from infection quarantine since the start of school, but now the recommendations for children in the two municipalities are being tightened, writes Budstikka.
– The municipal chief now says that children and young people who have been in contact with an infected person should be quarantined. We ask parents to help their children comply with this, Asker municipality wrote on Wednesday this week.
–Bærum municipality followed up on Friday with a new recommendation on quarantine for school children and schoolchildren who have the status of close contacts, even though they are not quarantined.
Put a lot of infection in primary school
Municipal chief physician Frantz Nilsen in Bærum says the rules in the municipality are now stricter than in the rest of the country because they have significantly more infection than elsewhere. He says he thought the government at the press conference on Monday would lift the quarantine exemption for children.
– We were prepared for it and were probably relatively surprised that it did not come. This has contributed to us advocating for home tuition now before Christmas. I can be open and honest about that. We have seen a lot of infection, especially in primary school.
Several may end up in quarantine at Christmas
This week, the government tightened the quarantine rules, so that more Norwegians can end up in quarantine before and during the Christmas celebration. But according to national rules, it is only if someone in the household (or similarly close) is infected that there is a quarantine obligation for children under 18 years of age. They are exempt from quarantine as “other close contacts”. Read more about the quarantine rules for children in this and this case.
In the event of a local outbreak of infection, a municipality may decide to quarantine children under the age of 18, if they are close contacts. The decision is made by the municipality as an infection control authority, and it happens from time to time in the event of major outbreaks in schools, assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad has previously told VG.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this case stated that the municipal chief believes that the Christmas celebration can be ruined, but NTB has subsequently specified that the municipal chief does not believe this. The quote “- Should children eat ribs alone in the room?”, Which was added to the municipal superior, but is not a quote from him. This has now been removed from the case. The case was changed on 18.12.21 at 16.23.
–
