The Conversation (0)
Breanna Robinson
Dec 31, 2021
“POV: “You test positive for Covid while over the Atlantic Ocean.”
Photo courtesy of @marisaefotieo/TikTok
A woman confined herself to an airplane bathroom for five hours after she tested positive for Covid-19 on a flight from Chicago to Iceland.
Maris Fotieo said that she felt discomfort in her throat about halfway through the journey and went to the bathroom to take a rapid Covid test which was positive.
“I just took my rapid test, and I brought it into the bathroom, and within what felt like two seconds, there were two lines (indicating a positive test),” Fotieo told NBC News.
This prompted her to essentially quarantine herself inside the bathroom for the remainder of the flight, which she said was around five hours.
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Fotieo said that there were “150 people on the flight,” and she was concerned about passing the virus onto them.
She also took to her TikTok to post a short video of herself inside the cramped quarters of the bathroom.
“POV: You test positive for Covid while over the Atlantic,” the onscreen text said as the song “I’m So Lucky Lucky” by Grandzz played in the background.
@marisaefotieo Shout out to @Icelandair for my VIP quarantine quarters.. #luxuryliving #imsolucky #covid #vaccinated #fyp #viralvideotiktok #quarantine
Fotieo said that a flight attendant named Ragnhildur “Rocky” Eiríksdóttir ensured that she was OK and had food and drinks.
Her video has been viewed over 4m times since she uploaded it on December 20.
Fotieo said that she had to isolate again in a Red Cross hotel when arriving in Iceland’s capital.
But before she got off the plane, Eiríksdóttir provided her with her name and Instagram handle just in case she wanted to reach out for anything she may need.
Eiríksdóttir helped Fotieo ring the holidays as best she could despite her circumstances.
Fotieo said that her cousins asked Eiríksdóttir for restaurant recommendations, to which she offered to pick up the food and drop it off.
@marisaefotieo I NEED IDEAS FOR ROCKY THE QUEEN FROM @icelandair.is #fyp #viralvideo #quarantine #viral #christmas #omicron #imsoluckylucky
She also gave her Christmas gifts.
“It was so heartfelt, and she’s just an angel,” Fotieo said.
Fotieo posted several videos of her daily life inside her hotel quarantine in Reykjavik.
In another interview with CNN, Fotieo said that she was fully vaccinated and boosted and was on the way to her final destination of Switzerland with her brother and father when she tested positive.
”I was in shock that I was missing out on a family trip. I was in shock that I was going to be in Iceland alone. I was in shock that I had 20 families back home that just had me in their classroom.”