Coronavirus: Iceland’s key to success has been to keep politicians off the stage

Giving scientists authority over the coronavirus response as part of longstanding public emergency rules is an important factor in the country’s success, says Borzou Daragahi

Tourists with masks walk down Laugavegur street in downtown Reykjavik (Anadolu via Getty)

In Iceland, no politician talks about injecting disinfectant to rid your lungs of coronavirus. In fact, when health directorate chief Alma Moller calmly stands up before a microphone at daily briefings to update the country on the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians are nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the 59-year-old, the first woman to hold the post since the directorate was created in the 18th century, is flanked by other physicians, security officials and scientists. Sometimes she invites outside experts who speak on topics ranging from childcare challenges to mental health during the lockdown to the danger of domestic abuse.

“Our goal is to tell the truth, and we make decisions based on the facts that we have,” she told the English-language Reykjavik Grapevine in an April interview.

On 4 May, the volcanic island nation of 364,000 will begin lifting restrictions on commerce and public life as it moves towards normalcy, allowing visits to nursing homes and public gatherings of up to 50 people.

Preschools and elementary schools will resume normal operations on Monday, along with hair salons, massage parlours, and museums. Universities and colleges will reopen.

While other countries remain under lockdown and suffer through political crises over coronavirus, Iceland, along with South Korea, is one of only two nations in the world where Covid-19 has been so tamed that Netflix has resumed filming there.

Iceland won international praise for its relatively quick response to the Covid-19 pandemic that included making testing available to nearly the entire population as well as contact-tracing of those who were coronavirus positive. The undertaking yielded groundbreaking findings that suggested many infected by coronavirus showed no symptoms, underscoring how the pathogen could be spread by unknowing carriers.

But less noted is how such a feat came to be possible: it was, in large part, the result of removing politics and politicians and handing scientists authority over the coronavirus response as part of longstanding public emergency rules. For example, early in April it was scientists who decided that no lockdown was necessary, and then scientists who, watching the numbers of cases increase, changed course and asked the government to close schools and universities.

“The response in Iceland has been mostly controlled by the epidemiologists, who have been working with the emergency response team and the police,” says Greta Sigriour Einarsdottir, editor of the Iceland Review, a magazine and website. “They have been taking charge of the effort while the politicians have officially held back. It has led to a feeling of trust in the society. People have been sticking to the guidelines.”

So far in Iceland, only 10 people have died of Covid-19 out of 1,798 cases reported. Incredibly, despite the pandemic, Iceland has recorded its lowest death rate in three years.

Iceland reported its first cases in late February. Though surrounded by the North Atlantic, it is no backwater. It welcomes at least 2 million visitors from abroad a year, and its citizens are avid travellers. By 16 March, as the number of cases rose to 200, the government began the kind of lockdown procedures now familiar to those all over the world.

“It’s a smaller community; a lot of people are likely to know someone infected or in quarantine,” says Johanna Jakobsdottir, an epidemiologist who has been tracking the disease as part of the government response. “People were taking it more seriously sooner because it was close. I myself had a few friends who were quarantined.”

In formulating a strategy, authorities invoked emergency management tools developed over the years to grapple with the threat of natural disasters, specifically the volcanoes that periodically erupt on the island.

“For the government to follow the experts is very easy because the laws are pretty clear on what we can do when there is a state of emergency,” says Jakobsdottir. “There is a law in place to declare a state of emergency and have everyone work together.”

Unlike the United Kingdom and the United States, Iceland’s political leaders never downplayed the threat of the virus – they didn’t dig themselves into holes they had to try to weasel out of later.

In contrast to many western countries, Iceland lacks large, toxic and hyper-partisan media platforms financed by rightwing oligarchs. Scientist Jakobsdóttir praises the work of Icelandic journalists. “The reporters have contacted us a lot,” she says. “We spend time talking with them. They are working very hard to do things correctly.”

Coronavirus also struck Iceland at a politically fortuitous time. Since late 2017, it has been governed by a grand alliance composed of several political wings, diminishing the possibility of political brinkmanship and grandstanding over coronavirus.

“We have a government that is a unity rightwing and leftwing coalition government,” says Jakobsdottir. “It’s not easy for them to blame each other.”

Putting scientists in charge has helped Iceland convince people to abide by social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines without coercive measures, and only one person in the country has reportedly been fined – a $350 penalty for violating the 14-day quarantine on those arriving in Iceland from abroad.

While authorities requested people abide by restrictions barring more than 20 people from gathering and to maintain distances of two meters between each person, no one goes around with a tape measure and counter. Over Easter, health officials asked people not to travel, appealing to their consciences instead of using threats of fines.

Health chief Moller’s daily televised briefs are announced on a Facebook page, with each day’s guests noted. She begins each session by praising frontline medical workers and caregivers watching over their children. Guests regularly answer any questions submitted ahead of time. No questions are too stupid. No, drinking alcohol will not cure coronavirus.

And no, absolutely do not inject disinfectant into your body.

“The general feeling is that the information is coming from the people who know what they are doing,” says Einarsdottir. “And the emphasis is on science.”