Coronavirus DK: Ready for phase 2 of the reopening

On Thursday, May 9, the day before the Great Prayer Day holiday, the government and the other parties reached an agreement on the next phase of the reopening (DK), which will take pace in two stages. On Monday, May 11, shops, shopping centers, professional sports, club sports and other clubs may resume activities. On May 18, restaurants, bars, libraries, middle schools and other youth activities, churches, zoos, and critical public institutions such as the military and the Work Environment offices may open. Some organizations that may not open yet, even though some parties wanted them to, are theaters, boarding schools, fitness centers, night clubs, higher educational institutions and museums. Denmark’s borders will remain closed until at least June 1.

All the reopenings are subject to the Health Authority’s special conditions and guidelines. For example, spectators will not be able to attend professional sports events. Amateur sports must take place outdoors and are still limited to groups of ten persons. Restaurants must maintain a distance between patrons. Libraries will be open only for lending and returns. Only zoos where visitors can remain in their cars may open. All the activities must continue to adhere to the general guidelines on social distancing, good hygiene and use of protective equipment. The government will continue to pursue an aggressive policy of testing, tracing, isolation of infected persons, and systematic spot checks at regular intervals. The parties will negotiate the partial phasing out of the aid package for businesses that reopen.

Disagreement on border and zoos

All the parties agreed on the plan, although each of them gave priority to certain aspects and some weren’t satisfied with the details (DK). The right-wing parties were generally pleased that additional businesses could open, while the left-wing parties emphasized the resumption of middle schools and other youth activities. The Social Liberals and the Conservative Party wanted to open the border. One MP from the Liberal Party, the largest opposition party, said the agreement was too cautious (DK) and wanted to open open zoos and museums and to repeal the ten-person limit on gatherings. The director of the Copenhagen Zoo (DK) was very disappointed that it wouldn’t open for at least a month. Negotiations on the details were reported to be difficult, and several parties disliked the way the Mette Frederiksen announced and “took credit for” the impending agreement on Wednesday before the specifics had been ironed out.

Uncertain outlook for restaurants

Katia Østergaard, the director of Horesta, the industry association for restaurants, hotels and tourism (DK), said that the guidelines according to which its members must operate were not clear and would determine whether or not their operations could be profitable. Østergaard suggested that the authorities follow the policies in effect in Norway. In Denmark, there are physical distancing requirements of two meters generally and four square meters in shops; in Norway, the requirements are half that size. The rules will determine how soon restaurants and cafes will be ready to open, and some will not be able to under the current conditions. Since March, more than 200 restaurants have gone bankrupt, and 11,000 employees in the industry have been laid off.

Economic gains versus infection risk

The plan was based on two expert reports. A report from SSI (DK), the agency for preparedness against infectious diseases, identified most of the activities that were included in Phase 2 as the “basic set” and concluded that the virus could be kept under control and would die out if they resumed operations; that is, reproductive rate of virus could be held under 1.0. The basic set did not include middle schools and restaurants. The report warned that because the overall spread of the infection was low, there was a risk of a second wave if people do not continue to follow the general guidelines on social distancing and good hygiene.

The second report was prepared by three economists. Its main purpose was to determine what activities would have the most beneficial effect on the economy (DK) if they resumed. The conclusion was service businesses, shopping centers, restaurants and cafes. It was a difficult balancing act to select activities that would have the strong economic effect while entailing relatively low risk of infection, said Torben Andersen of Aarhus University, one of the economists on the committee. Fitness centers, for example, would have to wait to reopen because they pose a rather large risk without having great economic significance.