Reykjavík Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson is going on sick leave, Vísir reports. He suffered from an abdominal infection last fall, which has recently reasserted itself. Dagur was placed on a course of treatment earlier in the week that doctors hope will prevent the infection from spreading as far as it did previously. He will, therefore, be taking a few days off from his mayoral duties.
Following his infection, Dagur was diagnosed with a rare rheumatic condition – reactive arthritis – which involves painful joint pain and swelling and sometimes limits the mayor’s mobility. Even so, this present infection flare-up has not given Dagur cause to suspect that he will need to take a more extensive leave of absence. “I made the decision that I’d need to recover and have a deputy to see to my obligations in the meantime,” he said. “I’m so lucky to have great colleagues. I hope to be better after the weekend, but I’ll need to assess that with my doctors.”
Dagur’s decision to be open about his condition was very consciously made. “I took the step this summer to talk about the fact that I had this condition and that I didn’t know what the future held. That was done so perhaps it wouldn’t come as a surprise if I had a deputy more often or set the agenda in a different way.”
Dagur brushed aside the speculations that have cropped in some quarters that the strain of the job is having an adverse effect on him. “It’s disappointing that conspiracy theories were so quick to crop up the very first time I’ve needed to take time off,” he said. “I hope that the lesson isn’t that a person gets punished for being open. I don’t want tall tales going around that I’m lying on death’s door.”
