Covid-19 Restricts Daily Life

2020-03-14Uncategorized Standard

[Photos taken 14 – 21 March 2020, posted online 22 August 2020. After a rainy August, we have a few sunny days before autumn hits.]

To begin with, Covid-19 got carried into Iceland mostly from people returning from winter-break ski-vacations. (The viruses got sequenced, and this article has a really good overview of how we got viruses from the entire world.)

From covid.is, the timeline in March was as follows

28 February   First case of COVID-19 confirmed in Iceland. DCPEM declare the alert phase.
6 March   First two transmissions within Iceland confirmed, traced to infected individuals who had recently traveled to Northern Italy. Alert level raised to emergency phase.
‍13 March   Screening for the virus that causes COVID-19 starts among the general public. First cases of transmissions that could not be traced. A ban on gatherings of more than 100 people is implemented. Upper secondary schools (high schools) and Universities closed and operations of Kindergartens and Primary schools are limited.
14 March Icelandic authorities advise Icelanders from travelling and encourage Icelanders travelling abroad to consider hasting their return to Iceland.
15 March   Results from screening indicates low rate of infections among the general public.
19 March   All countries defined as having high-risk for infection. All Icelandic citizens and residents in Iceland arriving from abroad must undergo self-quarantine for 14 days.
22 March   Minister of Health announces further restrictions, limiting on gatherings to 20 people or less. Sports clubs, hair salons and similar establishments are closed.

Bjarki and Anna did remote learning only from mid-March, while Emma continued attending school and aftercare throughout the school year (phew!). Finnur and myself also moved to working from home. It was quite the transition. (45-ish images total)

Saturday 14 March 2020

We decided to stock up on books at the library. A week later the libraries were closed down.

Sunday 15 March 2020

We attempted to get the hot tub operational, but we found that there was an ice blockage in the pipes that was too big for us to thaw quickly. We had to just wait for warmer days…

Monday 16 March 2020

Missing my morning cup of mocha (spoilt brat), I took Anna to a nearby cafe for lunch. Half of the tables had been decommissioned, and the cafe itself would close down a week later. (Many other cafes stayed open throughout the spring, but were capped at 20 people at any one time.)
All disposable plates, cups, and cutlery.
When we returned home, Finnur and Emma were outside with a couple of boys from the street trying to unclog the drains to let the thaw water down.
Ready to work!
Excellent scraping!
Five hours later they were back out again. We could see the speed bump at least!
I’d left my keyboard at work, so Finnur brought one from his office (he had to go into restart a server). It was neither Icelandic nor English speaking…
Balloon play.
Emma managed to blow her electrified balloon pretty far up the wall.
It took me the longest time to remember why I’d taken this photo. Yup, we lost power for 15 minutes at 10 pm!
I tried to sign up for a covid test (for science!) but they were fully booked.

Tuesday 17 March 2020

My butt was sore from my lousy chair, while the sun was starting to really shine. So out for a walk I went.
Not a lot of cars considering it was rush hour.
Two people playing Frisbee golf!
That yellow thing is a goal.
Most kettle bells under 24 kg (53 lbs) were sold out!

Wednesday 18 March 2020

Attempt #1 at a home gym.
My haul: 6 kg, 14 kg, and 24 kg kettle bells and resistance bands.
Bjarki attended a remote guitar lesson in my new “office”.
The view from my office.

Thursday 19 March 2020

The first task of the day was going to the library to get a book Bjarki’d forgotten at school. (I only realized later that I could have contacted his teachers, oh well)
Yup.
Emma.
Being silly!
Gymnastics were cancelled so to the home gym we went.
We had a strong start!
I tried working out using a sheet program.
Interesting scenery!
That evening, snow was back on.

Friday 20 March 2020

Every day, Bjarki’s teachers, asked him to submit a photo assignment. That day’s assignment was to empty the dishwasher!
Anna’s remote piano lesson.
Emma was still gung-ho about excercising.
Impressive bridge!
Obligatory split.
A multi-purpose bench!

Saturday 21 March 2020

“Spring”.
I eloped to a cafe, trying to not feel too nervous.
Shopping for friends of ours that were in quarantine after returning from a winter vacation abroad.
Standing 2 m apart in line, but it was harder to enforce the 2 m while browsing.
A friend of ours was working the self-service counters. She made a lot of money during the spring, as the stores lengthened their opening hours, and were even open all Easter.
Food delivery!
The covid purchase of the day: gymnastics mats!
We moved the upstairs hall-cabinet into Bjarki’s room, and just left the mats there. That pile of stuff next to it was shoveled out of Emma’s room during the renovations, and was yet to be sorted. And thus it began.