Reykjavík Grapevine - sep. 2020, Blaðsíða 40

L IF E , T R AV EL & EN T ER TA INMEN T IN ICEL A ND
Issue 07 " 2020
Sep 11th—Oct 9th
www.grapevine.is
LAST WORDS
Iceland v. England
Words: Jess Distill
When the world first started to take Covid-19
seriously, the British Government was notori-
ously slow to react. Mandatory lockdown was
implemented a few weeks after most other
countries had been put into quarantine and
eased much earlier than everyone thought
was safe. All the while, much of the British
public has been very vocal about their anger
towards the Government’s lack of urgency
surrounding the pandemic.
Iceland, on the other hand, managed to get
a grasp on the situation pretty quickly. And
the public didn’t need to be forced into their
homes. Nor did they need to be told what they
should do and when they should do it. They
simply did it, knowing that quarantine would
slow the rate of infection.
In fact, one could be forgiven for forgetting
that Covid-19 is even a thing whilst in Iceland
(please don’t forget—it is still very much a
thing). With no mandatory mask wearing in
public buildings; no shops, pubs, restaurants
or schools shut; and no sense of panic, confu-
sion or anger, everyone quietly gets on with
life, doing their bit to help and doing their
best to adhere to what they know to be best
practice.
The way in which the Icelandic public has
reacted to the pandemic and how well the
country has coped with it as a whole is testa-
ment to the power of common sense. Before
the Government even began to put guidelines
in place, people already understood what they
had to do. They didn’t need to be told that if
you can work from home. They just did. They
didn’t need to be told to stay at home if they
might have been exposed to the virus. They
just did it. Because that’s common sense.
The English public, for the most part, have
needed their hands held by the government
every step of the way, being told what to do
and when to do it and not taking vital steps
to help before being explicitly told to. And it’s
been the blind leading the blind, with confus-
ing, ever changing instructions making the
public second guess their individual actions
and making common sense…well…not that
common.
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