Infection control doctor: Must be prepared for large municipalities to reopen later

In the last 24 hours, 35 new cases of infection have been registered in Drammen, where six of the cases have an unknown or uncertain route of infection.

The number is somewhat higher than it has been through Easter, but at the same time lower than the level before Easter.

On Wednesday, the government presented its reopening plan for Norway. But infection control chief Einar Sagberg in Drammen asks his residents to prepare for a somewhat later reopening.

– We must probably be prepared for the fact that Drammen and other large municipalities with higher infection pressure in the central eastern region will be reopened later than municipalities in other parts of the country with lower infection pressure, he says.

The government hopes that mass testing in schools can help make reopening easier. Drammen municipality has not yet taken a position on how this can be implemented.

– It will be a big logistics challenge to test all school students in the municipality every week. The health service is already heavily burdened, so we must see how it can be facilitated for the most efficient and correct testing possible and be sure that it is useful before we can implement this, says Sagberg.