New year, new numbers – Iceland Monitor

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For the second year in a row, New Year’s Eve has been unusual in Iceland, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There was, for example, no scheduled bonfires, and church masses could not be attended, because the maximum number of people allowed to congregate was limited to 20 people.

It is believed that between five and twelve thousand tourists spent Christmas and New Year in Iceland, compared to about 30,000 during the same period in 2018 and 2019.

We’ve entered a new year, and as before, we’re following the news closely, evaluating all kinds of numbers: the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the number of people in hospital, the number of people in intensive care, the number of people in isolation, the number of infected people that we know Personally, the number of earthquakes since midnight, the depth, measured in kilometers, as magma moves in the Reykjanes Peninsula, the magnitude of the earthquakes, the number of earthquakes. Minutes of daylight we gain each day.

Every day, we wonder if an eruption is imminent near Mount Fagradalsfjall. Every time computer screens flicker, we wonder how powerful the earthquake was. We have learned from experience that when the window glass begins to vibrate, as if someone is knocking on it, the magnitude of the earthquake is more than 4. We are used to the ground trembling and not shaking at all.

We know there are brighter times, because the days are getting longer. And the longer it lasts, the more optimistic and energetic we become.

We send you our best wishes for a Happy New Year.

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