A vaccine is not a shield

– We are planning vaccinations for secondary and high school, and we are in the process of doing so. The vaccine is not a shield, but it does reduce the possibility of infection. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated have the same rules.

The mayor asked everyone to follow the advice and rules required by the organizers.

Use a bandage when it is tight. Keep one meter away. Keep your hands clean. The mayor says, stay home if you are sick.

On Thursday afternoon, Stjørdal municipality held a press conference with Director Tor Jakob Reitan and municipal chief medical officer Leif Edvard Muruvik Vonen, after Stjørdal municipality received 31 positive rapid tests on Thursday.

In addition, they have received ten positive PCR tests so far on Thursday. Five of them were identified with a positive rapid test earlier this week, while five were not warned.

Adolescent vaccination

Schools and kindergartens are often associated with the huge number of positive tests in the past week, and the municipality, in cooperation with the affected schools and kindergartens, has started a large testing system.

Today we started planning to vaccinate children between the ages of 12 and 15. Stjørdal municipality will do all it can to start vaccinating those from the 2006, 2007 and 2008 groups. As long as we get enough doses and plan other logistics, we will immediately start vaccinating this group, says municipality manager Tor Jakob Reitan.

At week 37, children aged 16-17 years in high school begin to be vaccinated. The mayor believes that children aged 16-17 deserve to be commended for the very good support. After that, children aged 12-15 years will begin to be vaccinated, most likely also in parallel with those.

Raytan stressed that a large proportion of vaccinated people now have a low risk of serious disease in the population, and that infected children generally have a good disease profile. Halsen Primary School is now being put on measures within the yellow level, and is constantly considering whether more schools should be set up at the same level.

– You don’t want to add additional restrictions

Otherwise, it requires that all events and recreational activities be held after additional focus and additional quality assurance of infection control measures.

“Here we’re asking the responsible organizers, we’re getting Hell Blues and many other great events this weekend, to take an extra tour internally and reach out if they have any doubts,” Reitan said.

The mayor does not want to impose additional restrictions.

– We know that Stjørdals Blink Football, after a conversation with them this spring, has digging into good routines that are an example to follow. If during the summer we loosen, say, the meter requirement among adults, we should all realize that we are “now back again,” Raytan.

“We also don’t recommend home offices as a rule, but we stress the importance of maintaining the one-meter distance requirement as it still applies,” Raytan said.

Stifle the outbreak by isolating the infected

The chief infection control official noted that there are many assurances to be arranged now.

– Many families are planning larger parties, gathering relatives from all over the country in one room. There, a large portion of the participants will be unvaccinated young adults, and with the current number of infected in this group in Stjørdal, this is important to consider. If young people are exempt from quarantine by testing, they are in fact at risk of infection through close contact. Fonin said families where this is appropriate have a very high risk of infection during confirmation ceremonies.

He invites the Church to dialogue on this subject.

At the same time, Vonen would point out that there is a much lower risk that covid 19 will kill life and health now, and thus key intervention measures are now less legitimate under the Infection Control Act.

The risk to public health is much lower, so I’m not too concerned about the situation we face with so many daily infections. The goal is to stifle this outbreak by isolating infected people as quickly as possible, when we find them to be tested, Fonin said.