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Leo Namen, Canadian climber
“I’ve been in other base camps in the past, and if one person gets the flu, basically the entire base camp gets the flu,” Namen said. “So [there] was a very, very strong concern about it.”
Namen said some COVID-19 safety measures are in place at base camp. Expedition teams have to stay in roped-off areas, and most people comply. He added, though, that he had to tell people on two occasions to keep their masks above their noses.
An official with the Himalayan Rescue Association told the BBC this week that 17 climbers have tested positive for COVID-19 after being evacuated off the mountain. A separate organization, the Nepal Mountaineering Association, confirmed only three cases to The World.
TORONTO Leo Namen breathes heavily, taking a breath between words as though just talking is making him winded. Ropes dictate where heâs allowed to go, and his oxygen saturation levels are just 89 per cent. The Canadian climber and heart attack survivor is 5,364 metres above sea level, at Mount Everestâs base camp. Despite the restrictions put in place by the Napalese government and the precautions taken at base camp, at least one climber has tested positive for COVID-19 and Namen said there might be more. âThereâs some controls that the government has put on to reduce the risk of this happening but still, thereâs been some cases already of COVID-19 within base camp,â he told CTVNews.ca in a FaceTime interview on Wednesday.