Landlæknir disowns incorrect eclipse glasses guidance

Incorrect information about using solar eclipse glasses on the government website island.is did not come from Iceland’s Directorate of Health, mbl.is reports. Kjartan Hreinn Njálsson, an assistant to the director of health, said the directorate had not advised people to look at the eclipse intermittently.

“The directorate has never said to look at something with breaks. This did not come from us,” Kjartan told mbl.is.

He said island.is is not the directorate’s website or a page operated by the institution. It is an information page assembled by the authorities, with the ministries working on it. The directorate was asked by the group responsible for the public information to prepare certain guidance.

Astronomer Sævar Helgi Bragason, also known as Stjörnu-Sævar, has said that the information on island.is about using solar eclipse glasses is incorrect. The page has published conflicting guidance on safety and eye health during the eclipse.

Kjartan said the directorate’s guidance consists only of the text appearing lower down the page under the same section, titled “Safety and eye health”. He said the guidance under the heading “Instructions from the Directorate of Health on protecting the eyes when observing a total or partial solar eclipse” came from the director of health, while the text above it, which contains the incorrect information, did not.