Covid outbreak in Norwegian church

A total of 120 people visited a 3-day Spring party in the Pentecostal church Livets Senter in Hamar, a city of around 30,000 residents, 100 kilometres north of Oslo. The event lasted from April 30th to May 2nd. After the party, four of the attendees tested positive for the coronavirus. It is unknown whether the persons were infected before or during the festivities.

Municipal chief physician Einar Stødle says that last weekend has been used for infection detection, but there is currently no overview of the situation. “We hope to get answers from tests on Monday and Tuesday”, Stødle says to NRK.

Collaboration

On its website, the congregation states a good collaboration between the church and the health services. “We have handed over a list with the names and telephone numbers of everyone present”, says pastor David Aanje. He encourages the participants to cooperate with the health services to get clarity on the situation.

According to Aanje, the congregation took a lot of measures to prevent spreading the virus. All participants had to register to enter the service. Every attendee was also encouraged to remain seated.

The pastor of the Livits Senter says the congregation will now review its routines. “Even though we had many preventive measures, we will make a thorough evaluation so that we can be even better at infection control. We want our events to be a safe place“, says Aanje.