So you have survived a year long pandemic and want to find a way to prove you are truly alive. Some people feel the need to climb Mount Everest to fill that need. The mountain climbing season was abandoned last year due to the pandemic but the mountain was opened up for climbers again in 2021.
The Mount Everest base camp is basically a garbage heap from the abandoned refuge from 3 years of climbers waste. You might think that climbing to the top of the highest mountain inn the world might socially distance you from the COVID-19 virus, but you would be wrong.
A member of an expedition at the 17,600 foot high Base Camp tested positive for COVID-19. The infected patient was originally thought to be suffering from high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) and was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Upon arrival, the person tested positive for COVID-19. The rest of their expedition team then began quarantining at Base Camp. It is easy to mistake the virus for symptoms commonly caused by extreme altitude. Doctors at the base amp are not able to test for COVID-19.
The Nepal government has issued 338 permits to climb Everest which is a quite crowded climbing season. Masks re worn only sporadically at the base camp. Climbers are supposed to supply a negative COVID test but this is voluntary. Some climbers claim to have been vaccinated but again paperwork is voluntary. Nepal shares an open border with India which now has the highest rate of COVID-19 infections in the world.