Mobile testing centers from across the country test coronavirus east coasters.
The queue to be tested for coronavirus in front of Horsens’ large football stadium is long.
But the test car that the Easterners are waiting to visit is actually on the road.
The mobile corona test center has been driven all the way from the Region of Southern Denmark to test where the infection pressure is currently highest.
– It can be a little uncomfortable, warns Mathias Flores Sørensen from the Danish Emergency Management Agency , before he with a small spatula scrapes a sample from the throat of one of the many who showed up to be tested.
Today, ten test cars from the country’s regions have been driven to East Jutland to help test the citizens.
Four test cars are not enough
The Central Jutland region itself has four cars for mobile testing, but they have been hard pressed after the coronavirus really broke out in East Jutland last week.
Therefore, the medical director Per Sabroe Nielsen from Region Midtjyllands Præhospital is happy with the help from the country’s four other regions .
– It means everything! This came in a few days. So we had to come up with everything we could ourselves, and put in the extra we could. We have extended the opening hours for the tent station in Aarhus and have taken in extra vehicles , he explains.
The new outbreak of coronavirus has led many Aarhusians to seek out the Central Jutland Region’s own test cars and test centers in Aarhus, Viborg and Herning.
– There is a lot of pressure. All that publicity about the outbreak has gotten people off their chairs and out to be tested.
Can get back to work quickly
Michelle Sørensen is one of the front in the queue in the parking lot in Horsens on Monday morning. And she’s really happy that the mobile test center from the neighboring region is ready to help.
She is a laboratory technician at Aarhus University, and one of her colleagues has been tested positive for coronavirus. Therefore, everyone in the department must be tested.
– It’s super lucky. I actually had a time for a test in Skanderborg on Wednesday, but it is a bit of a long wait when I am not allowed to come to work until I have a negative test, she says.
Emergency coordinator in the Region of Southern Denmark Kenneth Ravnholt says that the infection rate right now is so low in the Region of Southern Denmark that the cars can be dispensed with there.
– We find quite a bit out in the summer country, so it makes good sense to drive up and help where there is a greater number of infections.
Happy for regions cooperation
In Central Jutland, Per Sabroe Nielsen is happy with the cooperation between the country’s regions . For Region Midtjylland’s own four test cars can not keep up with the need.
– We simply did not have the opportunity to do it ourselves in such a short time, but we in the regions have promised to help each other. The Central Jutland region’s test cars have also been in North Jutland when there was an outbreak in Hjørring, says Per Sabroe Nielsen.
The rolling assistance from the other regions means that the test capacity in East Jutland increases from around 1,000 tests per day to 5-6,000 tests per day.
– We can continue to do this for as long as it is necessary, says Per Sabroe Nielsen.
– We follow the infection rates very carefully from day to day. If they rise, we need to find something more. And if they do, then maybe we can start sending back the help we’ve got from the other regions .
Lent until Friday
With the new test cars, it is possible to expand the number of test stations to Skanderborg, Randers, Silkeborg and Horsens.
Initially, the other regions’ cars are on loan until Friday, but the loan may be longer.
And Kenneth Ravnholt from the Region of Southern Denmark believes that it is a sensible strategy to move resources between the regions .
– We focus our efforts where we can find the most infected, and it is right now in the Aarhus area that it makes the best sense.
Source: dr.dk
