A sort of fun—and very Icelandic—reminder about social distancing rules has come from the National Association of Sheep Farmers. This includes a guideline to maintain a distance of two sheep between people, as can be seen here:
The association issued a set of guidelines due to COVID-19 and civil protection measures today. They were prepared in collaboration with the Civil Defense, the Epidemiologist, the National Association of Sheep Farmers, the Farmers’ Association of Iceland and the Association of Icelandic Municipalities.
These implementation rules are generally concerning guidelines about hiking and sheep roundups and are the responsibility of the local government, in charge of mountain settlement, to ensure that the disease prevention rules are followed and to issue further instructions if necessary.
Emphasis is placed on everyone being responsible for their own actions and that “we are all civil defense”.
Additionally, the State Prosecutor has issued new and updated instructions for violations of the Epidemiological Control Act and according rules.
In these instructions fines were added for offenses related to the 2 meter rule, exceeding number limitations for meetings and the rules on mask use.
Individuals who do not wear a face mask can be fined 10,000 to 100,000 ISK. The fine is determined by the severity of the offense. The obligation to wear a mask applies, for example, to public transport, hairdressing salons and activities that require proximity where two metres between people cannot be maintained.
If the limitation rules on the number of people at gatherings are violated, the fine of an individual who attends such a gathering is 50,000 ISK. The fine for the representative or organiser in charge of the gathering is 250,000 to 500,000 ISK.
The State Prosecutor emphasises however that the prosecutors assess each case individually and determine the amount of the fine based on the seriousness of the offense.
Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.
You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.
Buy subscriptions, t-shirts and more from our shop right here!
