Iceland Is a Perfect Laboratory for Studying Covid-19
Members of the public are tested at DeCode Genetics’ service center, a few miles from its headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Source: DeCode Genetics
Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice, but it also turns out to be an intriguing case study during this global pandemic. The island nation has only one point of entry, Keflavik Airport, a small population of about 364,000 people, and a lot less bureaucratic red tape than most countries. And it has Kari Stefansson, a neurologist who founded DeCode Genetics in 1996 to mine the unique genetic data of his fellow countrymen. The company has become a global pioneer in population genetics and its links to disease.
In the fight against the coronavirus, DeCode has rolled out one of the world’s most extensive testing and tracking programs, helping contain the spread of Covid-19 at home and providing insights into the disease’s evolution and other questions the U.S. and others are trying to answer. “Iceland is the best living lab we have,” says John Ioannidis, a Stanford professor of medicine and epidemiology. “They have yielded useful insights and shown that with aggressive testing you have great resolutions.”