Utsira is Norway’s only municipality without corona infection –
Since March 2020, the corona infection has ravaged Norway. In December, infection records have been broken on the assembly line after the omicron variant was discovered in the country.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) warned that up to 300,000 could be infected daily, and intervention measures were then introduced.
But on an island barely 30 miles off Haugesund, they have escaped.
– We do not hit ourselves on the chest, but knock on the table, says Tove Helén Grimsby, and turns towards the office desk and knocks three times.
She is the mayor of the small municipality of Utsira with 189 inhabitants.
They are Norway’s only municipality that has not had a single corona case. Yet.
The island is located in the sea gap outside Karmøy, with a ferry that burns twice daily between Haugesund, where there have been over 2000 registered cases of infection.
– There are lots of people who have traveled back and forth. Both residents and tourists. I feel it’s luck. There has been a lot of illness, and we have really just been waiting for the first positive test, says health nurse Gunn Hilde Austrheim.
She receives Dagbladet’s emissaries who come dizzy ashore. The ferry ride out was a strenuous affair in strong waves. Several passengers had to lie down on the rows of seats, which is the “old women’s council” the locals give against the seasickness you risk getting in the waves on the way out.
Dagbladet explains the reason for her visit to ferry worker Vibeke Thomassen, who has lived all her life on Utsira.
– Knock on the table, she also starts.
– We have been good at following rules, and drank a lot, but otherwise lived as before. There is a lot of traffic on the ferry here, especially in the summer, so it is strange that nothing has happened, she says.
Vibeke Thomassen transports people between Haugesund and Utsira with the Utsira boat.
The island is weather-hardy, and is self-sufficient in electricity from wind turbines that are deserted to some distance away from the buildings.
– A wonder
On the north side of the island, the waves hit the rocks hard. The wind is strong, and at the old lighthouse at the top of the island you have to use what you have of balancing arts to stay standing.
At the local Joker store, the island’s only grocery store, grocer Kjetil Klovning has to close the door after the customers who come in. The wind blows it up once on the gang.
– It is a miracle that nothing has happened here, says the merchant, referring to the infection situation.
He says that the store has had adventurous growth since the corona virus broke out, and that they have had a myriad of customers during the tourist season from Easter to the autumn holiday weeks.
– During the holidays, we have felt concern, for each period we have wondered if we should get away now as well, explains health nurse Gunn Hilde Austrheim.
For the merchant, the holiday season was worth its weight in gold.
– The pandemic has been kind to us, and people have acted so it sings after, smiles Klovning, who reveals that in 2020 he paid a bonus to all employees.
The inhabitants joke that there are powerful findings that have knocked out the virus, but it is also clear that loyalty to rules and restrictions is strong.
Despite zero infection, they have followed both regional and national measures slavishly.
Dagbladet’s visit takes place the next day with Jonas Gahr Støhre’s introduced new corona measures, which ensured a review of distance rules and face masks. In retrospect, even more intrusive measures have been introduced, including a national liquor ban.
New record: Over 6,000 infected in the last 24 hours
In the waiting room of the municipal doctor and health nurse Austrheim complies with both the meter and the bandage. There, the health nurse is in the process of vaccinating the inhabitants with the third dose.
– It is not the case that we have locked ourselves in, people have been good – we must have been, it has helped not to have special rules out here. Then there is probably some luck. It’s just a matter of time before we get it here and, says Deputy Mayor Grimsby.
The hysteria subsided
She admits in the municipality, with both few inhabitants and more elderly people, are vulnerable to a possible outbreak. The boat that transports people to and from the island has only two watch teams.
– In the beginning, there were people who wanted the boat to stop going, but it does not work, she says.
Omikron settlement: – Hysteria
At the local Joker store, the grocer Klovning is by first name with all of his customers, whom he has met every single day since the pandemic broke out in March last year.
He explains that in the beginning they drove goods to several people. Large quantities of hand alcohol have been used, and he has distributed free bandages during the pandemic.
– Have people been afraid of corona?
– I’m starting, yes. Men hysteria subsided. People realized that if you used the opening hours and took precautions, it would go just fine, and in addition you got a social gain, he points out.
Merchant Kjetil Klovning helps customers carry the goods out of the car. The sanitary napkin order when the meter can not comply is not neglected.
Despite zero infection, infection control is taken seriously.
Merchant Klovning must take responsibility for keeping the door closed in the strong weather.
Full vaccination rate
The last success factor is probably the vaccination. According to Grimsby, the municipality has a 100 percent vaccination rate in the target group.
– We have not heard of any skepticism, people have attended their vaccination classes and been very grateful for it, she says.
On the second floor of the town hall at Siratun sits health nurse Gunn Hilde Austrheim.
She has vaccinated almost all of the inhabitants of the island. Since March 2020, the pandemic has taken up almost all of her working hours.
The mood is at its peak when Kristina Marie Nilsen receives her third vaccine dose with Pfizer.
Gunn Hilde Austrheim has vaccinated everyone on the island.
– It’s not just vaccination. One must also familiarize oneself with constantly new rules, give people advice, testing, and now facilitate rapid testing. Items must be recorded and submitted. It has mostly been my task, with some relief from the health and care manager, she explains.
She says that things have mostly gone smoothly, but that normal holiday settlement with longer continuous holidays became difficult.
– How do you think it has been to conduct pandemic management at Utsira compared to other places?
– In many ways it is easier here. We all know each other and have more time to be outreach.
Bursting in tears on the podium
The latest concern now is that the omicron variant, which had recently begun to spread before Dagbladet’s visit, increases the risk of the first case of infection.
– Are you worried?
– No. If that happens, we have rules for what we should do if someone is infected, then just follow it, coronageneral Austrheim answers calmly.
The wind in the back gives a strong push the small through down to the ferry berth for the last boat of the day over to the mainland to Haugesund.
One week after the visit, the corona virus has still not recovered from the rough sea with the solid Utsira boat.
Knock on the table, as ferry worker Vibeke Thomassen said at the ticket counter on the road over eight hours earlier.