, Espen's deputy director of health Rostrup Nakstad believes that a number of local restrictions are important.
- Face masks are among the safety measures that are important as infections and hospitalizations increase, says the deputy health director.
- In case of deterioration of the situation, it may be necessary to introduce local restrictions. The need to use face masks when people are crowded, more regular testing and keeping a distance. These are precautions that can be provided by municipalities with significant increases in the number of infected, continues Nakstad.
The number of infected people continues to grow, fortunately slowly because most people have been vaccinated.
Winter tide may come
Espen Rostrup Nakstad points to events in Europe which, in his opinion, show that the vaccination program has not solved all the problems.
- In many countries, there is still a high percentage of vaccinated people admitted to hospital and an increasing number of infections. This may require local precautionary measures in Norway as well, if hospital admissions continue to increase.
Earlier in October, the FHI said it was concerned that the winter wave could overload hospitals, especially if it hit at the same time as the flu wave. Measures such as distance and masks will help against both, says the deputy director of health. In addition, Norway is now seeing an increase in the number of patients with RSV (respiratory virus) viral disease, which largely affects young children.
893 new cases of coronavirus infection were registered in Norway on Monday. On the other hand, the number of people admitted to Norwegian hospitals on Monday was 125 people.
Infection in the north, restrictions at the municipal level
The University Hospital of Northern Norway (UNN) has seen a large increase in the number of patients in the past two weeks. Additionally, several municipalities in the north, including Tromsø and Alta, have seen an increase in people infected.
Tromsø Municipality is considering restricting face masks and keeping distance if the infection continues to worsen and if more people are admitted to hospital.
When asked if there is a specific threshold for how many people may be hospitalized or infected before the new restrictions are introduced, Espen Rostrup Nakstad replies that the total burden on the health service depends on several factors, and not only on the total number of infected at the same time. In particular, it is important that patients are very sick and require intensive care. Currently, the proportion of hospitalized patients relative to the population is the highest in Tromsø. Many hospitalized patients are also located in eastern Norway.
Vaccines are not enough
Espen Rostrup Nakstad says it is difficult to predict a pandemic in the future. It all depends on the effect of the third dose of the vaccine for people over 65 years of age, so far no significant changes have been observed.
“Plus, it looks like a lot of people will be vaccinated against the flu, which is very good news. However, it is not certain that 90 percent of the vaccinated population will be enough to keep the pandemic in check.
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Source: vg.no
