Home care staff in Kiruna worked without protective equipment with covid-19 infected

Home care workers have cared for a user whose husband has been ill with symptoms that one gets at covid-19.

Despite pressure on the employer Kiruna municipality, the staff has not been given access to protective equipment. The employer said that they do not need to stay in the same room as their spouse when they helped the patient to receive care.

The husband has now been identified for covid-19 disease and the union and home care staff are critical to how Kiruna municipality handled the risk of infection for both the staff and users in the home care and elderly homes.

- They have protective equipment to use when warranted. According to the general guidelines that we work with, we use protective equipment in case of suspected or detected infection, says Håkan Dahlqvist, social manager Kiruna.

- Why are they lying? There were no protective clothing or masks. The only thing that was there was a handgun. Now the home care staff are worried that they have spread infection to other users, says Gunilla Eliasson, chief safety officer at the Municipal in Kiruna.