Quarantine Facilities Almost Booked Up

A limited number of rooms is available at quarantine facilities in Reykjavík and vicinity, and only one room is available in Akureyri, North Iceland, Gylfi Þór Þorsteinsson, director of quarantine facilities in Iceland, told mbl.is yesterday afternoon.

Of the 120 guests currently staying at those facilities, about 100 are in isolation. In addition, some parents have accompanied their children there and are, therefore, in quarantine.

When asked if they could accommodate more people, Gylfi responded, “It’s really crowded here already, but we anticipate that some people may be allowed to check out today, so we hope to have rooms today and tomorrow. Then, depending on how many new cases will be confirmed today and in the coming days, the facilities may or may not get booked up.”

He adds, though, that the operation has gone really well, and that the staff is very hard-working and doing a good job.

When asked whether we can expect additional quarantine facilities to open in the coming days, Gylfi responds that it hasn’t been discussed.

“It is, of course, up to the Ministry of Health and the Icelandic Health Insurance to make that decision,” he points out, “but finding a hotel [for this purpose] has become very difficult these days. Most of them are in operation. While everything was shut down, it was completely different. I’m not so sure we’d be able to find other hotels.”

Since every room in a quarantine hotel has to have a private bathroom, it is unlikely that anything other than a hotel could be used for this purpose, he explains.