A Chicago teacher onboard a flight from Chicago to Iceland isolated herself in the plane's washroom for 5 hours after testing positive for COVID mid-flight. The teacher, identified as Marisa Fotieo, took a rapid lateral flow test during the journey from Chicago, Illinois to Reykjavik, Iceland after she experienced discomfort in her throat. Marisa, however, had tested negative in a pre-departure test.
After taking the rapid COVID test mid-flight, Marisa found that she had contracted the virus and decided to self-isolate. "There's 150 people on the flight, and my biggest fear was giving it to them," Marisa told NBC's Today show. She then locked herself in the plane's tiny bathroom for the next five hours of the journey. Marisa posted videos of her self-isolation mid-flight on Tiktok that went viral.
Five-hour bathroom isolation
Marisa, however, noted that her five-hour self-isolation wasn't all bad as one of the flight crews, Ragnhildur 'Rocky' Eiríksdóttir, made sure to bring her food and drink. After the flight landed, Marisa was taken straight to a 10-day mandatory quarantine facility in the Red Cross Humanitarian Hotel set up for COVID-19 positive people. She further noted that she kept in touch with Eiríksdóttir who tried to make her quarantine stay as much enjoyable as possible. "It was so heartfelt, and she's just an angel," Marisa said.
Marisa documented her quarantine stay in videos that showed her receiving delivery of snacks, a card, and flowers from the flight attendant. Eiríksdóttir even bought her a Christmas tree for Christmas Day. According to Marisa's last post, she was still in quarantine on December 29, which is supposed to end by new year.
Iceland has made it mandatory for flight passengers to produce a negative test taken within 72 hours of departure.
