Iceland “Beat COVID” — Now Its Virus Chief Says Restrictions May Last “15 Years”

Iceland “beat COVID” in May 2020 according to CNN and The New Yorker. (“The country didn’t just manage to flatten the curve; it virtually eliminated it.”) It had “flattened the curve” according to MarketWatch the following month and “hammered covid with science” according to Nature Magazine in November 2020. It had “stopped the British mutation of Covid scaring Europe in its tracks” according to Bloomberg in January 2021, and had “clamped down to conquer coronavirus” according to BBC in March 2021. It had “kept the pandemic under control” according to NBC in the same month and throughout this time had a lot to “teach the world about minimizing Covid” such as according to US News in 2020.

Then in June 2021, its virus chief announced final victory explaining that oweing to its mass vaccination success the country had now “reached herd immunity” that made a local epidemic among the vaccinated impossible:

Iceland has vaccinated enough of its population against COVID-19 to avoid a local epidemic, though group outbreaks could still occur among those who have not received the jab, says Þórólfur Guðnason, the country’s Chief Epidemiologist. Iceland has thus achieved herd immunity, Þórólfur told RÚV

Fast-forward one month:

Iceland, one of the first countries in the world to abolish all COVID-19 restrictions for vaccinated tourists, may see recently reimposed safety protocols in place for 15 years, according to one of the Nordic country’s chief medical experts. [Actually Gudnason, the “one of chief medical experts” in question is something like the dictator of Iceland at the moment with the PM giving him free reign.]

Despite the overwhelming majority of Iceland’s adult population having been vaccinated, chief epidemiologist Thorolfur Gudnason said he cannot rule out that reintroduced COVID-19 restrictions may become necessary for many years to come.

His comments come amid a rapid rise of the Delta strain, with the fully vaccinated making up a large proportion of the new infections.

“It can happen, no one knows what the future holds,” Gudnason told local newspaper Morgunbladid. “That is what we have been saying all along, that there is no predictability in this.”

Thorolfur Gudnason said that the COVID-19 epidemic will not end in Iceland until it is abolished all over the world.

He also admitted that the vaccine protection against infection was lower, maintained that the defense against serious illnesses was still estimated at 90 percent.

On 26 June, the Icelandic authorities chose to remove all domestic restrictions, prompting media outlets across the globe to hail it as the country that vanquished coronavirus. [For the n-th time.] At that time, not a single case of COVID-19 had been registered in several weeks, and no deaths since December of last year had occurred.

At the same time, a large majority of Iceland’s adult population has been vaccinated. For people aged over 50, the proportion is close to 100 percent.

Yet, the country has since seen a rapid rise of the Delta strain, with a large proportion of the new infections among those fully vaccinated. This week, the spread of the infection reached the highest level to date, with 131 daily cases.

The new wave of infections has forced the Icelandic authorities to reintroduce restrictions, such as requirements for mask use indoors.

The European center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) labeled Iceland as “orange” in its latest report on the global COVID-19 epidemiological situation. Morgunbladid reported earlier this week that Iceland could be classified as “red” in light of the recent increase in the COVID-19 notification rate, which passed the 200 per 100,000 people mark this week.

Along with compulsory face diapers indoors, gatherings (funerals included I presume) are limited to 20 people, and gyms and bars are closed:

The health ministry said late Saturday that starting from Monday, most sports facilities, bars and clubs will be closed while gatherings will be limited to a maximum 20 people.

Held up as an example of a country that did everything right. Where “politicians stood back and allowed scientists to lead” and which therefore was able to “beat”, “hammer”, “conquer”, “contain”, “flatten” and “stop” Covid, Iceland is now told it faces 15 years of on-and-off shutdowns and muzzling. (Points for honesty?)

Who knew that when you hand over the keys of power to self-important bureaucrat parasites what you get isn’t a technocratic miracle but dystopia.