By Lars Erik Taraldsen /p p and Michael Smith
Bloomberg News
The Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten Group was ready to show the world that ships could be made safe from COVID-19. It outfitted its newest vessel, the MS Roald Amundsen, with a suite of prevention measures for cruises among the glaciers, fjords and polar bear breeding grounds of Svalbard Island, far above the Arctic Circle.
And yet sometime after the Amundsen left Tromso, a port in northern Norway flanked by snow-capped mountains, on July 17, the virus found its way on board. Eventually, 71 passengers and crew members from two back-to-back cruises to Svalbard were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, outbreaks that were traced back to the ship. The Amundsen, named for the Norwegian man who became the first explorer to reach the South Pole, had become one of the worst COVID-19 superspreader events to strike Norway.