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A total of 33 people have been confirmed infected following a bus trip with retirees in southern Norway. The couple behind the bus company say they are hard hit by the outbreak.
CHARACTERISTICS: The couple Silje Landa and Ingvar Landa say they are sad after the outbreak.
Silje Landa / Privat
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Several Rogaland municipalities held a press conference Tuesday evening after an outbreak related to a bus trip.
A total of 33 of the 37 passengers were confirmed infected after Wednesday afternoon’s trip. The driver and one of the tour guides tested negative, while another tour guide and the other passengers are believed to have tested negative.
It was the Ingvar’s Travel bus company, run by the couple Silje and Ingvar Landa Travel, who organized the trip.
The outbreak has affected them greatly.
– I’m not well. It’s a strain, says Silje Landa.
She describes the entourage as a great traveling family and says she is sorry they were infected during the trip.
– We haven’t slept much last night nor have we eaten much today, says Landa.
So far, she and her husband have tested negative, but they are both in quarantine.
– I don’t know if we could have done something different, beyond perhaps not traveling. We are very sorry, says Silje Landa.
Sent tips before the trip.
Landa is a nurse and says that throughout the pandemic she was very concerned about infection control.
– I have always behaved as if I was infected. I’m not that scared of myself, but I don’t want to infect others, she says.
Landa says that everyone who was going to join the trip received a letter in advance asking them to avoid the crowds for ten days before the trip.
– It was meant to be a kind of self-imposed quarantine, he says.
No one was allowed to join the trip if they exhibited symptoms.
It was Randaberg24 who on Wednesday first brought up the couple’s experience with the outbreak.
Here the bus passed:
http://api.int.vgnett.no/enrichments/top_object/17439
Had with thermometer
When Landa had to follow the passengers on the bus during the trip, she always wore a bandage and disposable gloves.
She says the bus’s ventilation system has been rebuilt due to the coronavirus. All the air is taken from above and disappears under the bus.
The ventilation has been on the entire time while the bus has been in use, says Landa.
Landa claims that married couples have been allowed to sit together, while others have to sit alone on the bus. They all sat wide apart.
– There was alcohol, masks and gloves available to everyone on the bus, he says.
Landa also brought a thermometer, just in case.
You have followed the infection control rules.
The municipal chief doctor in Sandnes Hans Petter Torvik is clear to VG:
– The bus company has adhered to the industry standard that Virke has created for the industry. They have been careful to follow this up, especially after being told that someone who had been on board was confirmed to be infected, he says.
He previously confirmed to VG that the company was complying with current infection control rules.
Torvik believes Virke should review the advice for the industry.
Line Vold of the National Institute of Public Health told VG on Wednesday that they will see the advice and guidance for buses after the outbreak, where 33 retirees who traveled together by bus tested positive.
Waiting for answers
– The infection could also have occurred outside the bus. It could have happened in hotels, or in lobbies, when we stopped at various places, Landa points out.
She hopes the infection tracking will show where and how passengers have been infected.
Landa says she has made a seat map of where everyone sat.
– Those who have been infected so far have been widely dispersed. In some cases, the husband is infected while the wife is not, even though they have been together, she says.
Avoid places with a lot of infection
Landa says the couple have avoided traveling to places with a lot of infection. The trip was actually to go to Hamar and Bergen, but the couple chose other places with less infection pressure.
This is not the first trip Ingvar’s trips have organized during the pandemic. In July, they were on a five-day trip, which was completely infection-free.
The couple were actually going to take a new trip to Voss on Thursday, with a new bus, driver and guide, but have decided to postpone the trip.
-It’s very unfortunate, says Landa.
