Coronavirus DK: New plan for testing, tracing and isolation

Yesterday the government held a press conference to present the next steps (DK) in the management of the coronavirus in Denmark. They involve several initiatives: a new board dedicated to addressing the pandemic, a revised testing strategy, the implementation of systematic contact tracing, new options for isolating infected persons, and the use of the temporary test centers. The board, which will operate under the Ministry of Justice, will coordinate all these activities. For example, it will manage the availability of protective equipment throughout the country, access to the test and isolation facilities, communications and international collaboration. 

The number of tests will increase gradually to include testing for antibodies (DK) in randomly selected citizens. The tests will give an indication of how many people have been infected without showing symptoms. They will be conducted by medical students recruited for the task at the temporary Testcenters set up across the country. There are now 16 Testcenters, and they have the capacity to conduct 10,000 PCR tests (for the virus) and 5,000 tests for antibodies per day.

Hotels and vacation centers

Persons who test positive will undergo self-isolation. If isolation at home is not convenient, they will be offered the opportunity to use an isolation facility. This is indicated in cases where they are not able to isolate themselves from their family adequately or if they live with someone in a high-risk group such as a person with a chronic illness. The municipalities will be responsible for making facilities available in a hotels, vacation centers or other commercial lodging facilities. This option is available only for people who do not require medical supervision in a hospital. Hotels and youth hostels have already offered to make their facilities available.

Quarantining contacts

An infection tracing unit will be set up from the resources in the current coronavirus hotline. It will work with infected people to contact everyone the person has been in contact with – family, coworkers, friends, etc. Infected people will get instructions from their doctors about how to pursue the tracing. Contacts exposed to infected persons will be offered two tests, one four days after exposure and another six days after, and they will be encouraged to self-isolate until the results of the first test are available. Tracing will begin this week, and the testing of contacts will take place at the temporary Testcenters. An app is being developed to supplement the tracing process.

The purpose of these measures is not only to manage the current stage of the epidemic but to be prepared in case of a second wave of infections, although Kåre Mølbak, the head of SSI, the agency responsible for preparedness against infectious diseases, says he believes a second wave is unlikely (DK) because the healthcare sector has learned much in the past two months about how to manage the disease in hospitals and society.

Forced isolation and masks

At the press conference, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke was asked what will happen if an infected person refuses to isolate himself or herself. He said that the law governing the epidemic allows the possibility of forced isolation but it will be used only very rarely, for example with psychiatric patients, if necessary, in order to avert the risk of superspreading. 

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was asked about the criticism the government has received (DK) about reducing the physical distance guideline from two meters to one meter without warning. She responded that the other political parties had known the Health Authority was working on the requirement and that she had not known any more about it than the other parties at their latest meeting last Thursday.

When Søren Bostrøm, head of the Health Authority, was asked why there is no requirement to wear masks in Denmark, he replied that the Authority had considered the recommendations and concluded that there was no strong documentation supporting a policy that everyone must wear a mask.