Coronavirus DK: It's party time, virus be damned

In recent days we have seen photos of packed beaches in the UK and headlines scolding the Brits for flouting social distancing principles. On Friday, the hottest day of the year and the beginning of school vacation, it was Denmark’s turn to be tempted by the water. People took to the beaches (DK) and open areas along the canal. In some spots they lay on towels less than one meter from one another, but few were worried about the risk of infection.

“It seems like there is better control of it [the coronavirus] here than in the UK,” said one. “I wouldn’t have done this a month ago,” said another. Most seem to think people should try to return to normal habits again, as long as they’re reasonably careful. They had sanitizer with them, and if someone came too close, they would edge away. In contrast, there is plenty of space at the beaches in western Jutland.

Upholding traditions

This is the week for high school graduation (DK). I have written about the graduates getting permission to ride around town in a large trailer carousing and making a racket. There are several other traditions connected to the event, and some of them may not be advisable while the coronavirus is still at large in the country. “It’s a matter of how large a risk you accept in order not to ruin the traditions,” says Søren Riis Paludan, Professor of Virology and Immunology at Aarhus University, who was asked to evaluate the dangers of the various practices.

• Graduation ceremony: A potential superspreader event. Hundreds of people sit close together indoors. The graduates shake hands with the principal when they receive their diplomas. Some schools have taken the precaution of making them drive-in events.

• Trailer ride: An obvious risk because the young people stand close to one another yelling and cheering, but it helps that the trailers are open.

• Jumping in fountains: Not much additional risk, unless someone who is infected splashes others. But if more than one class goes in the same fountain, they could create new chains of infection.

• Biting hat brims: That’s right, the studenterhue (high school graduate cap) is the main symbol of graduation, and classmates bite on the brims of one another’s hats. It's  supposed to bring luck, so many may have trouble foregoing those teeth marks  despite the clear risk.

• Buffets: On the drive around town, the young people stop at everyone’s home, where the parents serve them snacks and drinks. Sharing food, such as large bowls of chips, is certainly a bad idea. It should be divided up into separate portions. There is also a separate risk for parents, who are more likely to develop a serious illness than the young people. They should keep their distance.

• Beer pong: Let’s see, should you drink from a glass of beer after a ping pong ball handled by several people lands in it?

• Sharing drinks throughout the day and evening: It’s very common to pass around a bottle of Carlsberg. “That’s obvious – you should avoid it,” says Riis Paludan. “We’re almost back with the whistle in Ischgl.” Ischgl is the Austrian ski resort where bartenders used referee’s whistles to get through a thick crowd and let customers try them. Hundreds or thousands of Europeans, including at least 139 Danes, caught the infection there in February and March.