Chicago teacher quarantines in airplane bathroom with COVID

Marisa Fotieo had made plans to visit Switzerland with her father and brother over Christmas.

Fotieo–who is not herself Jewish but teaches at Gan Shalom, Temple Sholom of Chicago’s Jewish early childhood program–had scheduled the overseas trip last summer when COVID cases were down. She and her family decided, despite the winter spike, to proceed, cautiously, with their travels.

So shortly before the first leg of their trip–a stopover in Iceland–Fotieo took two PCR tests and several rapid tests, which all came back negative. Yet, a couple hours into the flight, she woke up from a nap and felt an intense sore throat coming on. She grabbed an at-home COVID test from her carry-on bag and ran to the bathroom to take it, certain the test would be negative.

To her surprise, two lines, indicating a COVID-positive result, instantaneously appeared. “It took two seconds-you could probably count ‘one Mississippi, two Mississippi,'” she later described to Jewish Chicago on a phone call. Panicked and sobbing, Fotieo didn’t know what to do, but knew she wouldn’t return to her seat because she didn’t want to jeopardize the safety of the other passengers.

Flight attendant Ragnhildur Eiríksdóttir–Rocky for short–tried to calm Fotieo down, suggesting that she rearrange seat assignments so that the sick passenger could isolate herself from everyone else in the back of the plane. Yet the full flight would make it hard to move people around.

That’s when Fotieo offered to spend the rest of the flight–three hours–in the tiny airplane bathroom. To pass the time, she made a ticktock video about the ordeal, and about her gratitude for Eiríksdóttir who checked in with her frequently and supplied her with snacks during the flight.

Upon landing, Fotieo knew she couldn’t get on the next plane bound for Switzerland, and that she would have to quarantine in Iceland. Before they landed, Eiríksdóttir handed Fotieo a piece of paper with her contact information so Fotieo could look her up while in town. When Fotieo discovered her new friend’s Instagram handle was a play on Eiríksdóttir nickname “Queen,” she felt a cosmic link to Eiríksdóttir.

You see, Fotieo’s mother, who passed away two years ago, also went by the nickname “Queen.” When Fotieo discovered that her nurturing new friend shared a moniker with her own mom, she said she knew that “everything was going to be okay.”

During the quarantine, Eiríksdóttir made sure Fotieo was okay. Eiríksdóttir texted her daily to check in with her, and knowing that she would be alone on Christmas, Eiríksdóttir sent her meals, a small Christmas tree, and a bunch of presents. When the quarantine ended, Eiríksdóttir invited Fotieo and her dad and brother to her home and showed them around Reykjavik.

Even now that Fotieo is back home in Chicago, the two have stayed in touch. “She is just really lovely,” Fotieo said about her new friend. “I want to be Rocky when I grow up.”