This article was originally published in Norwegian. You can read a machine translated version here.

SARS-CoV-2, better known as the coronavirus, has put an end to much activity that deals with close contact between people who are not in close relationships. And no, I'm not talking about dating. Guess what, that's exactly what first aid courses do for a living! So from active course activity in 2019, we went to a zero point in the teaching business that has never been there since the start. Certain companies try to compensate with e-learning and online courses, but I am still of the opinion that first aid is knowledge that is exclusively learned through hands-on, that is, close contact between people, not through powerpoint, videos or a screen.

So how do you solve it then? The Norwegian First Aid Council (NFR) and the Norwegian Resuscitation Council (NRR) are two bodies that we use as a basis and quality assurance in our courses. Both came out with a guide on training in the corona era. It was last updated in April 2020 and leaves some room for interpretation, because the professional circles did not agree on the actual risk of infection at certain points.
 

What everyone agrees on is that close contact should be avoided and that masks and gloves as well as coats and eye protection must be used. As all this is standard equipment, why not run a course then? 2 pilot projects proved to work well. And the result was no infected people, but more trained first aiders.

Note that we use dedicated shell jackets (waterproof = barrier) as "coats". These are used as infection prevention equipment and are put on and taken off after the procedure. Where this is not possible, clothing is used for practice which, after single use, is packed in a bag and washed.
 

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