The increased number of diagnosed COVID-19 infections at the end of May does not appear to have been the start of a new wave of infections like last summer. However, it can be complicated to assess the state of the spread as there is little sampling. This is what Chief Epidemiologist Guðrún Aspelund says in an interview with Morgunblaðið.
“We saw a slight increase there in the second half of May and also knew that there was a cluster infection at Landspítali. Of course, we just tiptoed around to see if this was perhaps the beginning of a wave like we saw last summer when there was an increase in June, July and a little bit later into the fall,” says Guðrún.
She adds that usually around ten Covid infections were being diagnosed per week, but in the last two weeks of May that number went up to around twenty infections. “Then it happened last week that this dropped off and then it is possible that this was mainly this group infection at Landspítali. We are still monitoring whether this is the start of something but we did not find any reason to conclude that,” says Guðrún.
The cases of infection that are currently registered in the Directorate of Health’s database are either diagnosed through sampling at Landspítali or registered through a doctor’s diagnosis, so it can be assumed that many people now get Covid without actually receiving a diagnosis or that they even realized that they were infected. When asked, Guðrún says that this can complicate assessing the spread of the disease. “It’s a little more complicated to assess this when not a lot of samples are being taken out in the community and doctors may not be doing this diagnosis either.”
