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Alerts in the Hurtigrute case: Sick employee must have worked with guests

The incident is described both in an internal memo in the municipality written by the head of the crisis staff, Bror Hartvigsen, 4 August, and in a notice the municipality has received from one of the employees on board the ship a few days after the ship had docked.

“I think NN had symptoms, but then was at work after the symptoms subsided, before he became ill again,” Hartvigsen writes in the note.

According to the note, the employee had symptoms of pneumonia. iTromsø has chosen not to write the man’s profession on board the boat, for reasons of his anonymity, but he worked in a position where he had frequent contact with the guests.

NB! Read how Hurtigruten responds to the incidents at the bottom of the case!

Was admitted to UNN

Hartvigsen does not wish to comment on this part of the memorandum, and refers medical questions further to municipal chief physician Kathrine Kristoffersen.

– I do not know more about it than what is written in the documents you refer to. Nothing has been done by the municipality to investigate these conditions, says Kristoffersen to iTromsø.

According to the whistleblower, and sources in Tromsø have been in contact with, the employee must be one of the first to be admitted to UNN from “Roald Amundsen”.

DO NOT SUSPECT: Kathrine Kristoffersen, chief medical officer in Tromsø, says that they do not suspect that more employees have worked with guests despite symptoms, apart from the case in Tromsø discussed here. Photo: Rune Stoltz Bertinussen, Scanpix

– There is a person who matches the descriptions that were admitted to UNN, confirms the municipal chief of iTromsø.

– Does the municipality suspect that there are more employees who have been at work despite having symptoms?

– When we went on board the ship, there were a number of factors that we have explained earlier that made us choose to take over responsibility for the health work on board. But I have no reason to say that people have worked on board despite symptoms, beyond what you mentioned.

– Was very bad

About the same employee, the whistleblower who has contacted the municipality writes: “I even saw one of my colleagues at work was very ill, and this the day after he had been to the doctor.”

The person in question afterwards describes how the employee worked in close contact with guests, without wearing gloves or any other form of protective equipment.

The notice was sent before the municipality and UNN were inspected on board “Roald Amundsen”, and the municipality chose to take over the health work on the ship. The whistleblower writes that it is perceived as if the doctors on board downplay the situation.

“Is there any possibility that we can get competent, skilled and objective doctors on board who follow up the infected and possibly new infected? Which is often not paid for by Hurtigruten. Or carry out the quarantine in a place other than the ship where we receive follow-up from the municipality and not a commercial company? », The person writes.

hurtigruten, breivika, ms roald amundsen, korona Photo: Håkon Steinmo

– Careless use of equipment

After the inspection on Wednesday last week, it was decided that the health personnel on board should be taken out of service. In reports afterwards, the Norwegian ship doctor received the slippery slope from the municipality’s representatives.

In an e-mail that has been sent to Hurtigruten, among others, infection control doctor Trond Brattland writes the following:

“The first impression is that the scheme works very well. Both with regard to the use of face masks, hand hygiene and compliance with distance rules. “

Then they met the ship’s doctor.

“We met him after he examined a person with probable covid-19. Wearing personal protective equipment. He had not taken this off after examining the patient, he was wearing it partly with a visor and a face mask, infected suit open and without gloves. While calling on the cell phone. This clearly shows a lack of knowledge about infection control and poses a great risk, both that he himself can become ill and that he can infect others.

The person who was examined by the doctors is in several other documents confirmed positive for covid-19.

In another document, the ship doctor’s use of infection control equipment is described as careless. iTromsø has been in contact with the ship’s doctor himself, but he does not want to comment on the matter.

– I do not say anything, do not think it is right that I should say anything like the situation is now, he answers when in Tromsø calls.

Sent e-mail to the infection control doctor

In an e-mail to Trond Brattland, the ship’s doctor admitted the circumstances during the inspection of “Roald Amundsen”. But he was neither satisfied with being deprived of the duties on the ship, nor with the fact that Brattland had described him as at risk due to age.

RECEIVED EMAIL: Infection control chief doctor Trond Brattland received an e-mail from the ship’s doctor, who felt that he had been placed in an age quarantine by the infection control chief. Photo: Ronald Johansen

“As I write in the letter to you, that routine failure unfortunately applied to ALL of us in the hospital,” the ship’s doctor writes, emphasizing the next sentence.

“This was definitely a one-time incident.”

He claimed to have been placed in an illegal age quarantine by the chief infection control officer and contacted the medical association, among other things. But finally sends an e-mail to Brattland: “After some thought, I choose to relate to your decision in my case.

Will not comment on individuals

iTromsø has contacted Hurtigruten both to comment on the allegations about the ship’s doctor and whether a person has worked with guests while he was ill.

HURTIGRUTEN DURING INVESTIGATION: Head of Communications Rune Thomas Ege in Hurtigruten points out that the case is both being investigated and investigated, and that it is difficult to give detailed answers right now. He also does not want to comment on individuals. Photo: Press photo

“There is no doubt that several errors have occurred in connection with the disease outbreak on MS Roald Amundsen. Exactly what has happened, how it could happen and how we can avoid something like this happening again, we hope that investigations and investigations will get to the bottom of “, writes communications manager Rune Thomas Ege, in an e-mail to iTromsø.

“Going into questions about individuals or this type of detailed question about the course of events is terribly difficult as long as we do not have all the answers that the investigations and investigations are supposed to give. We ask for your understanding that we cannot go into such details right now “, he adds.

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