Coronavirus DK: Testing for all while social distances shrink

Now anyone can be tested (DK) for COVID-19. Previously, only people with symptoms could request a test and they had to do it through their GP. On Monday, the Health Ministry announced that people who have only a slight suspicion that they have been exposed to the coronavirus can order a test on the coronaprover.dk website. The purpose is to track down as many infections as possible before they infect others, said Health Minister Magnus Heunicke. The new policy is possible because the country’s testing capacity has been expanded substantially in the past month. Up to 42,000 persons can be tested per day.

Wait your turn, boomer

In the first stage, young adults from the ages of 18 to 25 are eligible to make an appointment at one of the 16 Test Centers set up in large white tents located across the country. Later in the week, the system will be open for the rest of the population. People who are identified by contact tracers as having been exposed to an infected person will be referred for a test automatically. Heunicke cautions that people with a negative test result must still observe careful hygiene and social distancing because the result does not guarantee that someone is not infected.

Some 4,500 persons succeeded in booking a test (DK) on Monday. Many more people tried, even though they weren’t all in the right age group. By the afternoon, 25,000 people were waiting in line on the website. The Health Ministry has not announced when other age groups will become eligible.

Quarantine fatigue?

The expanded testing policy comes at a time when more people than ever are disregarding the government’s guidelines (DK) on social distancing. A new survey from Epinion and Aarhus University shows the largest drop in the number of people who avoid gatherings of more than ten people, the current limit, since the lockdown was imposed on March 13. The percentage who observed the limit declined from 85 percent on May 8 to 71 percent on May 15. The level had been stable in the range of 81-89 percent since March 20. More than 17,000 persons took part in the survey.

Unlocked and optimistic

One can also notice a difference on the streets and in shops, say observers such as retail salespeople. People are less careful to maintain social distancing and they are coming into contact with others they haven’t been exposed to before. The trend does not necessarily mean that people have become indifferent to the guidelines, however, according to Professor Michael Bang Petersen, who worked on the survey. More than half of those surveyed still wash their hands more than ten times a day. The main factor, says Bang Petersen, could be that the sphere of their daily routines has expanded with the lifting of lockdown restrictions and more people are back at their workplaces, for example. Others warn that hand-washing alone shouldn’t be considered an adequate precaution.

The exhortations by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and healthcare officials have always stressed that the lockdown exit process depended on the continuation of social distancing. The survey also shows that people are less worried and more optimistic about the country’s condition.