Coronavirus DK: Life on the streets - some surprise findings

During the coronavirus crisis, people in minority and vulnerable groups have been subject to an increase in hateful behavior. The Institute for Human Rights released a report (DK) on how ethnic minorities, LGBT+ persons and disabled persons have experienced harassment, threats and violence since the epidemic began. It shows a distinct rise in such incidents. Some are related to the virus, for example, “Go home, China!” sometimes directed at an adopted person of Korean ancestry who grew up in Denmark.

Opportunistic bigotry

But others seem unrelated. Same-sex couples might be told to maintain a distance between them. “The corona epidemic simply shows that many Danes have a very heteronormative understanding of gender,” says Susanne Branner Jespersen, head of the Secretariat at LGBT+ Danmark. A blind person who inadvertently comes too close to someone on the sidewalk becomes the recipient of an unpleasant remark. The Institute hopes to use the report to develop new guidelines in case crisis conditions return.

Reducing violence

Corona conditions have led to another discovery about social behavior: When bars and nightclubs were closed during the strict lockdown, from mid-March to mid-April, reports of violence fell 31 percent (DK). That was the finding from a collaborative study by the police, Southern Denmark University and the Crime Prevention Council. “We could consider how late we serve alcohol, for example,” said one of the researchers. The Social Democrats’  spokesperson for legal affairs suggested limiting the period when hard liquor is served, but his opposite number from the Danish People’s Party viewed such a step as breaching a basic freedom. 

Denmark has fairly liberal business hours for bars and clubs. They are up to the individual municipalities, and some are open until 6:00 a.m., which is much longer than in neighboring countries. Several studies have shown that incidents of violence and ER visits decline for every hour that business hours are curtailed. On May 18, restaurants and bars were allowed to reopen and operate until midnight. Nightclubs and discotheques are still closed.

Or domesticating violence?

But if people are forced to leave clubs, which have professional security staff, they will just continue to party elsewhere without supervision, notes Kirsten Munch Andersen of Horesta, the hospitality industry association. The number of complaints about behavior in private homes – noise, violence and other problems – rose 42 percent during the strict lockdown period.

Model coronavirus citizens

To the surprise of both social workers and healthcare researchers, very few homeless people in Denmark have become infected (DK) with the coronavirus. Along with Aarhus Municipality and Aarhus University Hospital, Kirkens Korshær, an organization similar to the Salvation Army, tested 400 drug abusers, homeless people and other vulnerable persons and did not find a single infection in the municipality.

The situation is similar in Copenhagen, says Kim Allan Jensen of an interest organization for the homeless, because they have taken the hygiene guidelines seriously. Previously, “you could see 50 people standing together drinking beer. . . . Now you see five here and five over there. You could say it’s a new drinking culture.” The only explanation for it is social distancing, says virologist Søren Riis Paludan.