Dealing With Unemployment During COVID-19

Flatten the Curve - Iceland Battles COVID-19 Epidemic

Data last updated on June 14th.

Reykjavik is empty. Most Icelanders are starting to practice social distancing. Daily news is devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paranoia but with good reason? Are you disinfecting your hands so often that they are beginning to dry up and chap? Is the gentle tickle in your throat just that, or is it a dry cough for something more serious?  Do you also feel like saying “bless you” has lost its meaning when you actually have to fight the urge to shun the one who just sneezed? 

Apart from the weather, coronavirus is the most popular talking point in Iceland right now, with 473 COVID-19 cases confirmed in Iceland by March 21st. The outbreak that devastated a major city in China has found its way to mainland Europe and now to Iceland. People here are worried. In mainland Europe, supermarkets are empty and fights are breaking out over the last toilet paper.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Two people were sitting on a beach in downtown Reykjavik in a sunny afternoon. The city looked empty. [Photo by Christine Einarsson (Tína) | Tína Einars photography]

Iceland’s Curve

Iceland started testing for COVID-19 on February 1st, with the first COVID-19 case being confirmed four weeks later, on February 28th. A male in his forties who had recently returned from Northern Italy. 

Subsequently, the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police activated the ‘Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management’ alert phase in consultation with Iceland’s Chief Epidemiologist. On March 6th, local transmission in Iceland was confirmed. 

Iceland has to join the battle to flatten the curve.

“Flatten the curve” is an expression derived from the widely-used graphic in this epidemic. The goal is to use collaborative efforts, including practicing social distancing, so we have fewer and fewer newly confirmed cases and protect the most vulnerable so that when the outbreak reaches its peak, the number of people who are confirmed with COVID-19 remains below the health care capacity. It’s a successful strategy implemented in most affected countries. As the epidemic develops in Iceland, the chart below will be updated accordingly.

Watching a global pandemic on this scale unfold, where every day holds multiple new Coronavirus-related news stories, can be hard on your mental health. I personally experienced the impact of the virus during the initial coronavirus outbreak in China. I wasn’t directly in the concentrated area of Wuhan, but my parents live on the east coast of China (if you are into beer brands, you might have heard the name Tsingtao). I visited them during the Lunar New Year, that’s also when the outbreak started to unravel and increase drastically.

Isolation in China

For two weeks, I stayed at home in isolation with my parents, only making essential outings for groceries, prepared with masks on our faces, hand-sanitizers in our pockets, and stress on our minds. Wherever we went we had to have our temperatures taken before we went in. We had our names, IDs, temperatures and the time written down. If people came in a group, only one person from the group would write down all the information and then have their hands sanitized - I thought it was very efficient both in saving resource (only one person touched the shared pen so one person needed the sanitizer) and keeping track of things.

The city, Qingdao, has a dense population of more than six million residents and so far it has 61 confirmed cases, one of whom is a student returning from overseas. In all these cases, the local press release put out information on the chain of transmission so when a case was confirmed, their whereabouts were traced and people in close contact alerted and quarantined. 

Needlessly to say, it’s a lot of work. People put life on hold only to focus on fighting this battle. Now, it’s contained, and everyone contributed.

Feburary 3, 2020. An empty street in Qingdao, Shandong, China, where a police van was parked on the side of the road. [Photo by Yanshu Li]

In early February Finnair canceled all its flights to and from Beijing starting February 6th. My flight was scheduled on February 5th, so that was lucky!

First Self-Quarantine in Iceland

I was told to self-quarantine right away after I arrived home in Iceland. After writing an email to Landlaeknir, they suggested I contact a local health care provider if I develop symptoms, which thankfully I didn’t need to do as I was fine. Two weeks passed just like that. It wasn’t too difficult.

My quarantine ended on February 20th and by that time, Iceland had zero cases. Italy had four- all traceable. The United States had 1 but China had 75,465.

My parents thought I went back to a safer place so they were relieved.

Exactly one month from that day, the world has completely changed. The epicenter shifted to Europe and soon the United States.

February 3,2020. One of the busiest streets in Qingdao was void of the usual buzz, only deliveryman were on duty as they were a big help during the difficult time. [Photo by Yanshu Li]

March 16, 2020. A man walking on an empty street in downtown Reykjavik, where it’s supposed to have more traffic. [Photo by Christine Einarsson (Tína) | Tína Einars photography]

Outbreak in Iceland

Alma Möller from Landlaeknir, the Directorate of Health in Iceland, stated in a program at RÚV with great reservations that the epidemic is expected to peak on April 10th, give or take five days. Until then, there will be 1,200 to 2,000 infections cumulatively. Iceland has 26 ventilators in Reykjavik and three in Akureyri, besides 15 donated by Icelanders living in the United States, and another nine coming soon. If her prediction is somehow correct, and when more infections lead to more people in the need of intense care, Iceland’s medical resources will be scrambling to have things under control, especially if people don’t abide harsher rules for social distancing.

If you want to see how it’s spreading globally, here are some maps by The New York Times which constantly updates the current situation, and the newspaper’s COVID-19 coverage is outside the paywall.

Back in Iceland, the testing effort was solely from the Department of Microbiology at the National University Hospital of Iceland. On March 14th, deCODE, a private company joined the force, with the intent of screening the entire Icelandic population for the coronavirus.

According to statistics, in the latest census, Iceland’s population reached 364,134 by 1 January 2020, a 2% increase from the previous year. At the end of 2019, the Capital Region of Iceland had 233,140 inhabitants, which is roughly 64% of Iceland’s entire population. The Capital Region has more confirmed coronavirus cases.

There are eight regions according to covid.is data. The map below shows the confirmed cases in each region, a larger circle means more cases. Hovering on the circle, numbers will pop up. A comprehensive version of the maps can be found here.

Please note that, to date (March 20), there are 7 confirmed cases and 20 people in self-quarantine whose locations are unknown, while 4 people are in quarantine abroad, according to covid.is. 

Donald McNeil, a science and health journalist who has covered epidemics including AIDS, Ebola, and SARS, said in a news program at MSNBC that the most effective way to contain the virus is by testing and breaking the chain of transmission. By diagnosing those infected as soon as possible, isolating them, and asking the rest of the population to stay at home (social distancing) we can work to mend the sickened and protect the healthy. One key point he mentioned, which was also a strategy Wuhan, China has later implemented, is keeping suspected cases away from their families and to separate suspected cases into self-quarantine away from their healthy family members. 

I haven’t heard any news about Iceland using this approach.

Second Self-Quarantine in Iceland

I visited the States for a journalist conference in early March and went back to Iceland on March 9th. One day later I received an email from the conference saying that one attendee was confirmed with coronavirus. I called 1700 (Iceland's designated hotline in this epidemic) in the afternoon and I was the 40th in the queue. 

After about 45 minutes of waiting, I got through. The nurse suggested I call my local health care provider to see if a test was needed. The local clinic suggested I quarantine at home for two weeks since my symptoms (sore throat, congested nose, and slight chest pain) can be either from my previous, not entirely recovered bad cough, or a mild COVID-19 infection. It wasn’t enough to make the cut for the actual test. So I had to stay home for two weeks - for the second time - in self-quarantine.

A magical time, once again. I didn’t predict that schools would be closed that week and the neighborhood kids would be so loud, but now I know! Working from home wasn’t the peaceful tranquility I expected to process all of this new information in but it was crazy to think that the kids playing outside had no idea of the magnitude of this global crisis. 

March 21, 2020. The view from my study’s tiny window. Self-quarantine has been a magical time. [Photo by Yanshu Li]

My doctor at the local clinic called me to follow up on my symptoms. By that time, I felt alright, the previous symptoms had gone, and I had no fever the whole time. my doctor was happy to hear I was doing okay and I was somewhat relieved as well but I was unable to go out into crowds so I couldn’t book the deCODE testing.

Yet Iceland has been doing a lot of testing. In fact, based on data from ourworldindata.com, Iceland ranks top one among the European and North American countries for coronavirus tests per million people. 

When testing is the key to identify infected from healthy crowds, Iceland is doing a great job. With a relatively small population, the testing rate is still impressive, although no matter how you test, with one confirmed case or one test conducted, let’s just say in all countries, it naturally puts Iceland on a higher place on the chart since the population number is smaller than most countries. So I also need to ask someone in the field that what this number really means.

What happens next?

The question is, just by testing aggressively, is it enough to contain the outbreak?

What about separating suspected cases from other healthy ones, not letting them share the same space. That’s been proven effective in China.

That’s why I want to know how many infections are transmitted from a suspected (later confirmed) case to its healthy family members during self-quarantine at home. What’s that number in Iceland?

When the epidemic first hit Iceland, we could still get information about the confirmed cases; who they are, where they visited, and how they are doing, as there were so few.

Then things start to escalate and get worse. More people are getting confirmed diagnoses every day. They call it exponential growth. Every day we hear statistics and numbers. We no longer hear their stories.

Numbers without context can’t be scary. When confirmed cases are in three-digit, quarantine cases in four, and Iceland’s entire population is merely a six- digit number, it’s worrisome.

On the official information site, the donut chart for the origin of infection has three segments, the segment for ‘unknown origin’ just keeps getting bigger.

Chart credit to covid.is by The Directorate of Health and The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management [Date of the chart: March 21, 2020]

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Updated on April 9th:

The numbers for daily new confirmed cases in Iceland have been going down continuously and today is the fourth day for this trend, while the testing efforts are still robust. 
The hopeful days for more people recovering than being tested positive are finally here. The Icelandic hardworking health care workers are just like any other nations in the world, fighting around the clock, making our home a safe and peaceful place to live again.

Since the blog published, I’ve been updating the numbers daily and watching closely. Iceland’s aggressive testing and diligently identifying the origin of transmission are paying off. And today, the donut chart for Origin of infection only has one case with unknown origin. If we keep staying at home to do our parts, we are helping the health care workers break the chain of transmission.
I hope other parts of the world will see light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel very soon. 

Chart credit to covid.is by The Directorate of Health and The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management [Date of the chart: April 9, 2020]

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While people have confidence in the authority’s capability and information transparency, there are so many questions that need to be asked. If the pandemic spreads the mild cases get more severe, self-quarantine at home with healthy family members is not an effective approach. Patients need hospital beds and medical equipment if more protective measures are needed for medical workers.

Do we have answers for these questions? Is Iceland prepared to handle the epidemic?

Reykjavik’s peaceful summer night. [Photo by Yanshu Li]

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The cover photo is created by freepik - www.freepik.com. Thanks to Lauren Renyard for editing and Christine Einarsson for photos.

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Gay Rights History Tells Iceland's Arduous Journey Towards Equality

Unlike many parts of the world where gay pride month is June, in Iceland, August is when the rainbow colors and flags shine. As the gay pride weekend is always set to be the second weekend of every August, this year on Saturday, 17th, Aug 2019 it marked the 20th anniversary of Reykjavik Pride - a parade and celebration of diversity in an open society. Icelanders have shaped their nation to embrace differences and diversities, but the achievement didn’t come this far overnight. 

The Icelandic society wasn't as open as today. Now when international media refers to Iceland as “an LGBTQ+ friendly country,” and anecdotes all the politician figures who are open about their orientation, it makes such a flattering image for Iceland as if it’s the most progressive society in the world.  Ást ert ást. Love is love. Iceland is indeed a very open society for the LGBTQ community, today, whereas the timeline below journeys back to 1869 when the law that criminalized same-sex sexual relations came into effect in Iceland. 

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Highlights of #reykjavikpride #prideweek #2019 . . . . . . . #reykjavik #iceland #icelandreview #loveislove #lgbtq #lgbt #lgbtq🌈 #icelandtoday #liveiniceland #parade #ig_iceland 19 #gaypride #gaypridereykjavik #gayprideiceland #gaypride2019 #gayiceland

A post shared by Yanshu Lee (@yanshuphotography) on Aug 18, 2019 at 4:18am PDT

Take a look at this story map listing all the countries and regions so far that legalized same-sex marriage, along with other rights.

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The Coal Burning Iceland

It’s hard to imagine Iceland burns coals. The Iceland that I know has “the purest water in the world,” “the best lamb meat in the world,” and possibly “the cleanest air in the world” - quoting the locals. The land of fire and ice is renowned for its geothermal and hydrothermal energy that’s completely renewable, making it hard to imagine the black solid fossil mass being burned in a furnace. So, it may come as a surprise when the domestic consumption of coal has been increasing in recent years.

According to the earliest data we can collect from Orkustofnun, the National Energy Authority, from 1940 to today, the coal consumption has fluctuated but has been rising since 2000.

A study named ENERGY IN ICELAND Historical Perspective, Present Status, Future Outlook conducted in 2005 said that out of the amounted 150 kiloton coal consumption, 90% was by the ferrosilicon plant in Grundartangi of Hvarffjord, West Iceland.  The cement factory in Akranes, now has been closed, used to a major coal consumer as well. The other one is the United Silicon smelter in Helguvík, Reykjanesbær.

However, heavy industries wasn’t always the major consumer of coal. More than a century ago, Iceland was dependent upon coal and oil, its fishing vessels, home utilities, and transportation fuels all needed coal to sustain. At that time, when the urban areas of the globe aren’t lit as they do now at night, the homes in Iceland might have been like what was depicted in Van Gogh’s masterpiece “The Potato Eaters.” And steam or smoke (reykja) was just a source of inspiration for Ingolfur Arnarsson to name his land on the Faxi Shoreline “Reykjavik” (smoky bay) - instead of being utilized for the greater good.

Iceland doesn’t have an abundant mineral reserve so it relies on imports from a number of counties over the years. For coal specifically, Netherland, the United Kingdom, and the United States have been major import sources on Coal, Coke, and Briquettes- a Harmonized System Classification - based on the import data from Statistics Iceland.

Driven Factor for Recent Reykjanesbaer's Population Outgrowth

To be honest, I was always amazed by the news made on the Icelandic media regarding anything about Iceland population. As the earlier post in which I used three maps to show you what the population in recent years looked like, the entire population was not a big number compared to most counties in the world. It felt more so from the perspective of a Chinese person. Any notable annual population increase in Iceland would be on a scale of four digits in which the first digit usually equals to one. Evidently, if one municipality outgrows another one by number of population, the number will be small but relatively impressive.

Like the one made on national news today: the population of Reykjanesbaer outgrows Akureyri by 40 more people counting from 1st December of last year to this year’s February 1st, making Reykjanesbaer the forth populous municipality in Iceland by number of population (by population density it stands too). Akureyri used to be the forth in this category.

The driven factor for this outgrowth is due to the increase of foreign citizens, as the charts show below.

By population density, Reykjanesbaer is more populated than Akureyri as the map shows below.

Three Maps to Brief on Iceland's Population

The latest news about Iceland is that in the forth quarter of 2018, Iceland had an increase of 1,420 in population. A majority portion of its land is uninhabited or far-less populated. The graphic indicates how it looks like by showing more populated area in stronger red and less populated in paler pink via mapping out the population data and the municipality spatial data.

Looking at the population density map of the Capital Region, the town of the highest density was Seltjarnarnes, an affluent town located North to Reykjavik.

Seltjarnarnes’s popular lighthouse Grotta. [Photo by Yanshu Li, 2016]

Talking about population density in Iceland is complicated yet simple to some extent. Iceland is home to vast area of wilderness and nature where moss fields covered lava land, including the most populated Capital Region. It makes the population density topic more complicated than the number shows since, cities, for example Reykjavik, also host enormous area where some forestry and planation grow. The population density indicated in the map is just an average figure. However, the simple to look at this is that the property / nature structure was very similar across municipalities. The inhabitants usually choose to reside in a compact area. So the error mixing averaged density with the actual space where people live can apply across municipalities. We can still trust the numbers before we move further to investigate other correlated subjects, such as crime rate, housing prices, cost of living, prices of goods, and featured industries.

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The satellite maps show the property / nature structure of each town. Before compiling and anlysizing real estate data but to be only based on heard experience, Hafnarfjordur is an ideal place for young professionals to put their downpayment for their first home since it has both lower housing price and vast nature leading to a balanced life.

Further more, Iceland has become more diverse than many people thought. The map animation below clearly shows that Iceland, right now, is home to people of diverse origins.

Let’s end this blog by a very interesting map showing how diverse the population of Iceland was in 2018.

Who Has Been Buying Fish From Iceland Since 1999?

BERGSSON RE is a lunch restaurant in Reykjavik. It's neatly located near the Reykjavik Harbor where you can see the colourful boats are coming and leaving, or simply fastened shore. The fish-themed lunch menu offer many options for a healthy and tasty meal at a reasonable price.

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Grilled at BERGSSON RE as a healthy and tasty lunch on a Friday in June.

Fish is important for Icelander's dining table. Many people also enjoy to go fishing in the rivers. The most common fish species are salmon and trout. Each year, you can only fish for salmon between May 20th - September 30th, as stated in Icelandic law.

Data Source: Iceland Statistics and Icelandic Customs Authority

Click on the categories of Salmon and Trout, you will find dramatic lines reaching out to many countries from Iceland. 

Iceland Really Looks As Depressed As The Data Shows?

When most people think about the Nordic countries, they probably think about the people's quiet characteristics, the unbelievably beautiful landscapes, and, of course, the long winter - the long winter that has only a few hours of sunlight; the long winter that has many hours of dimness. Would the darkness impact people’s mood? I can’t say for sure without any scientific evidence proving the correlation, but Iceland does have the highest antidepressant sales, according to health data.

The Nordic Health & Social Statistics keeps the sales of antidepressant data for all Nordic Countries from 2004. And the beautiful little island country, Iceland, has a strikingly higher ranking on almost all categories and it’s continuing to rise.

There are five categories of antidepressant in the data in which four of them are clarified, and one is under the "other" category.  

Several news outlets reported that the antidepressant pills are not only used for treating depression, it can be prescribed for other causes too, such as anxiety, social phobia, or ADHD. 

Despite what you see from the chart, there is more investigation needs to be done and questions that need answers. In Iceland, if the pills are prescribed for other treatments, what is the scale of other causes, and why?

When clicking through the years listed in the data, we can see that Iceland has the highest growth rate in the past decade in antidepressant sales.

A study that’s published in 2004, done by four scholars, Daylight Availability: A poor predictor of depression in Iceland, has concluded that winter depression in Iceland is not the result of less availability of daylight. Illuminance affects the mood more often, and the quality of daylight and genetic factors should both be considered.

“Average daylight availability does not explain the lower than expected prevalence of winter depression in Iceland. The great variability in illuminance might, however, affect the expression of winter depression, as could daylight quality and genetic factors.”

— Daylight Availability: A poor predictor of depression in Iceland

How Many People Have Travelled To Iceland Since 2002?

The same data can be rendered via Flourish in a globe view where you can see the clear trajectories and volume of the tourists coming to Iceland. In the data visualisation below, the category of "other countries" were omitted because in the original dataset no specific country was identified, which makes geo-coding impossible. You can see the number in the dataviz above.

Iceland Tourism Story

Top 10 Countries Where The Forest Land Area Increased and Decreased Between 1990-2015

The top 10 list has not included the factor of country size. We are going to see that set on later post.

Iceland Is Getting Greener

In early April 2018, the public transportation company in Iceland, Straeto bs, put four electric buses on the road, according to RUV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.

Straeto bs ordered 14 electric buses from China at a total cost of 880 million ISK (est. USD 8.2 million), based on Frettabladid, an Icelandic daily newspaper. Once all the clean buses are in movements on the road, together they will reduce the harmful gas emission by 1.750 ton annually.

Since there are speed barriers on the roads in the Capital Region, where most of the buses are operated, before the buses were successfully delivered, the Chinese bus manufacturer had to put extensive efforts to make sure that the buses are capable of handling this type of road condition in Iceland.

For a country where electricity is almost entirely generated by clean, recyclable energy, such as hydropower and thermal power, Iceland is once again outpacing the rest of the world by inaugurating clean electric buses that consume clean energy.

This is not the only idea Iceland has to build a green, clean country. Let’s first take a look at the CO2 emission in Iceland since 1990.

The World's Forest Land From 1990 - 2015

  The World's Forest Land From 1990 - 2015