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Don’t Touch Your Face

Don’t Touch Your Face: Iceland

People walk across frozen Tjornin, a lake in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Dec. 7, 2017.
People walk across frozen Tjornin, a lake in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Dec. 7, 2017.
People walk across frozen Tjornin, a lake in Reykjavik, Iceland, on Dec. 7, 2017. Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images

On today’s episode: What the world can learn from Iceland’s strategy of widespread testing.

Iceland has one of the highest per capita rates of coronavirus infections of any country in the world. That’s not because of bad luck but because of widespread testing that has revealed that as many as half of the people who test positive for the virus have no symptoms at all. 

On today’s episode, we look at what can be learned from the Icelandic approach of widespread testing. Don’t Touch Your Face host Amy Mackinnon is joined by Jelena Ciric, a journalist with the Iceland Review

Further Reading 

If you’re interested in learning more about Iceland’s approach to the coronavirus, here’s our recommended reading. 

Why Iceland’s approach to coronavirus testing may be better than America’s,” Fortune

Everyone In Iceland Can Get Tested For The Coronavirus. Here’s How The Results Could Help All Of Us.BuzzFeed

About Don’t Touch Your Face:  On the last day of 2019, China reported an unusual outbreak in Wuhan, a port city with a population of 11 million. Within two months, the disease would spread to almost every continent on the globe and kill thousands of people. From Foreign Policy, a podcast about the extent of the COVID-19 contagion, the threat it poses, and what countries are doing to contain it. Join FP’s James Palmer and Amy Mackinnon as they track the spread of the virus and explore what it means for people’s everyday lives. Have a coronavirus question for us to explore? Email it to donttouchyourface@foreignpolicy.com.  See All Episodes

More Don’t Touch Your Face episodes:

Don’t Touch Your Face: What the AIDS Epidemic Tells Us About COVID-19

On our final episode (for now), we examine an older public health crisis and the lessons it offers.

Don’t Touch Your Face: Dating During Covid-19

On this week’s episode: How the pandemic is changing the way we meet people.

Don’t Touch Your Face: Pandemic Within a Pandemic

On this week’s episode: How the world may see more protests as lockdowns lift.

Other Foreign Policy podcasts:

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