Procedure for the occurrence of the disease in a guest in a tourist accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Zagreb, June 19, 2020

Prerequisites:

Local government units, local civil protection headquarters, health centers and hotel tourist complexes of larger hotel tourist companies will define additional health care providers for guests of tourist accommodation facilities primarily through the organization of tourist medical practices or practices that will be responsible for individual accommodation facilities.
In areas that accept tourists, local civil protection headquarters and health centers will provide facilities for the prompt diagnosis of COVID-19.
Local civil protection headquarters and health centers will ensure the possibility of taking swabs in case of suspicion of COVID-19 in the competent clinics or potentially during home visits to guests in accommodation facilities.
Local civil protection headquarters, health centers, and emergency medical service will provide transportation to the primary care physician and to the hospital for sick guests.
Regional and local civil protection headquarters and regional and local government units will provide organized isolation for patients with COVID-19 whose clinical picture does not require hospitalization and organized quarantine/self-isolation for healthy contacts of patients who must be quarantined/self-isolated.
Publish contact information (telephone numbers) and working hours of the competent doctors' clinics/clinics that care for tourists

on the websites of municipalities, cities and counties, and their tourist boards, in Croatian, English and the languages of tourists who visit these destinations the most.

When a COVID-19 infectious disease is suspected in a visitor to the accommodation facility, the following applies:

The responsible person or the person authorized by them in the accommodation facility informs the doctor in the contracted clinic or the doctor in the tourist clinic (hereinafter: the competent doctor) about the illness of the guest for the purpose of performing the examination.
If in the first contact with the doctor, the competent doctor suspects that the person is infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the responsible person of the accommodation facility asks the guest to stay in the accommodation unit with the door closed and provides the sick guest with a medical (surgical) mask and tissues in sufficient quantity and instructs the guest not to leave the room until the medical examination (arrival of the doctor on a home visit or organized transport of the sick guest to the doctor's office) and further instructions.
The competent physician examines the patient to determine whether the criteria for suspecting COVID-19 are met and, depending on the clinical condition of the guest, determines the need to call an epidemiologist.
When COVID-19 is suspected, a swab is taken or arranged for the timely diagnosis of COVID-19 infection, and isolation in the accommodation unit is determined for the sick guest and their close contacts until the test results arrive.
Employees of the accommodation facility or household accommodation providers do not enter the room where the person is suspected of COVID-19 and the room where their close contacts are, and guests are informed that bed linen change and room cleaning will not take place at the usual intervals and in the usual way. Each such guest must keep the cleanliness of the room/space in which they are staying with the means that the accommodation facility will make available. Meals will be delivered to the room, and guests who do not have half board or full board accommodation will buy (order) meals from the accommodation restaurant to control entry and exit to the accommodation facility/room with meal delivery to the door of the room/suite. In smaller or suite accommodation facilities, the owner or the person responsible for accommodation will organize the delivery of food and other necessities for the guest to the door of the room and contact the competent health service.
If there is a need for contact with a sick guest while waiting for the test results on COVID-19, one person is designated to deal with that guest with the obligatory wearing of a protective medical mask and gloves and maintaining physical distance from the patient.
Masks, gloves, and similar protective gear must be discarded at once after use in a waste bin with a lid in which two plastic waste bags are placed. After discarding protective gear in the trash, workers must wash their hands with soap and water or disinfect them.
Guests who are part of the same group or the same family as the patient must also remain in their rooms until contact with the competent physician is established and until the results arrive if the physician suspects COVID-19.
If the doctor determines that the guest is not infected with COVID-19, they prescribe therapy for their condition, self-isolation is revoked for the guest and their close contacts, and the guest can move freely around the facility as far as their health and protection of the health of other guests allow.

In case of confirmation of COVID-19 infectious disease in a guest, the following applies:

A guest who has been confirmed with COVID-19 and whose medical condition requires hospitalization is transported to a medical institution following the doctor's instructions and depending on the severity of the disease, using a personal vehicle, organized transport or ambulance transport. In case of sudden onset of severe, life-threatening symptoms, an emergency medical service is called. Public transportation is NOT PERMITTED.
In agreement with the competent doctor, domestic guests who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 with mild symptoms or who do not have symptoms of the disease, are recommended to go to isolation in their own accommodation (at home), their own transport and without the use of public transport, if possible. In this case, further care of the patient is managed by their chosen doctor or the competent doctor according to the place of isolation (in consultation with the competent epidemiologist).
Domestic guests who are in contact with the patient go home in self-isolation, which is from then taken care of by their chosen doctor (in consultation with the competent epidemiologist).
A foreign guest with a confirmed COVID-19 disease whose medical condition does not require hospitalization and a domestic guest with a confirmed COVID-19 infection who does not have conditions for isolation at home should be accommodated in organized community isolation accommodation provided for such needs by the local government, by moving guests to a pre-prepared facility suitable for living in isolation (facilities designated and equipped by the local Crisis Headquarters or local government can be suites, houses, mobile homes, dormitories, etc.) which is further taken care of by the competent doctor for accommodation facility (in consultation with the competent epidemiologist). The same applies to guests who are close contacts of the patient, and who need quarantine/self-isolation.
Foreign guests with confirmed COVID-19 disease and foreign guests close contacts of a COVID-19 patient may return to their countries before the expiration of the patient's isolation, i.e., quarantine/self-isolation for healthy close contacts, after consultation with the public health authorities of their country of origin via IHR (international health regulations) system and agreements on the manner and financing of their transport to home countries.
The employee or person in the household in which accommodation service is provided with confirmed COVID-19 must be subjected to hospital treatment or isolation in their own home or organized isolation unit, depending on the severity of the illness.
An employee or person in a household in which accommodation services are provided who have been in close contact with a person confirmed with COVID-19 must be subjected to isolation in a home or organized isolation unit for healthy contacts of patients with COVID-19.
Completion of isolation and health condition is taken care of by the competent doctor who prescribed isolation or quarantine/self-isolation.

HZJZ
CROATIAN INSTITUTE
FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
T: +385 1 4863 222
F: +385 1 4863 366
www.hzjz.hr