Coronavirus DK: Immortal teenagers, safe shopping and terror

Yesterday Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the agency responsible for preparedness against infectious diseases, reported that the reproduction number of infections rose (DK) during the first week after the country reopened schools and small businesses. The measure, aka R0, indicates how many people one infected person passes the infection on to. If it is below 1.0, the virus is declining in prevalence. Before the reopening, in the period April 10-14, R0 had fallen to 0.6. After the reopening, in the period April 19-24, it rose to 0.9. The spread of the infection is thus not increasing. The rise in R0 had been expected after the relaxation of lockdown restrictions. Hospitalizations, which are a clearer measure of the spread of the virus, have been falling steadily since April 1.

Teenagers will be teenagers 

Kåre Mølbak, the head of SSI, reported that, while the overall spread of the virus remained under control, it has risen sharply among a certain segment of the population. For teenagers, it has doubled (DK) during the month of April. It rose from 4 per 100,000 in weeks 12-14 to 11 per 100,00 in weeks 15-17. The rate is still much lower than that of the elderly. For those over 80, the rate was 47 per 100,000 in the latter period. The information on the spread of the virus was presented to Parliament as they consider whether to reopen high schools and other educational institutions in the next phase of the lockdown exit. 

Mølbak did not make any recommendations about the reopening policy. He stated that young people do not run a great risk of becoming ill but the figures show that there may be a hidden dissemination of the virus that could pose a challenge during a further relaxation of restrictions. He added that young people sometimes have trouble taking such warnings seriously if they want to meet with their friends but they should consult their consciences and realize that they also have a responsibility to society.

IKEA again again

(The Danish phrase for “yet again” is “igen igen.”) After criticizing IKEA for reopening and then receiving criticism himself for his comments, Simon Kollerup, Minister for Business, has announced more concrete guidelines for large retailers (DK). The new rule is that stores larger than 10,000 square meters (100,000 sq. feet) must allow a space of 20 square meters (200 sq. feet) for each customer. Previously the general recommendation was that there must be only 4 square meters per customer. Other requirements are that customers must be able to walk past one another and stand in line at 2 meters’ distance, that the restaurant and children’s playroom must remain closed, and that there must be adequate supplies of sanitizer or soap and water. Kollerup reported that he had held constructive discussions with retailers and trade associations, and IKEA announced that it would be ready to comply with the new rule today.

As I reported yesterday, the parliamentary opposition has criticized the government for changing the policies during the crisis. Yesterday Magnus Heunicke, the Minister for Health, defended the government’s decisions (DK) to revise its policies. He said that it would be unwise to follow a fixed policy when new information about the spread of the virus is always appearing. Heunicke was questioned by opposition parties particularly about the Health Authority’s guidelines concerning the risk of infection from asymptomatic persons, which were not clarified until April 21, and their significance for the safety of healthcare personnel. Heunicke said that the Health Authority was following the WHO’s recommendations but that it had mentioned the risk earlier.

Terror, death of a poet, and praise from the fake newsmaker

While the Covid-19 crisis grinds along, other things are also happening in Denmark: Police and special forces arrested a radical Islamist (DK) who was allegedly planning a terror attack in Denmark. The young poet Yahya Hassan (DK), who caused a sensation a few years ago with his provocative upper-case exhortations and later ran into trouble with the law, was found dead in his home. And the president of the United States, who is best known for his lies and disinformation, compared Denmark’s pandemic strategy favorably to Sweden’s.

Coronavirus DK: The "Covid bloc's" sickly dissent

On Wednesday Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen spoke (DK) during the question session in Parliament. She noted that Denmark’s strategy for controlling Covid-19 was working. The number of persons hospitalized has been cut in half in the month of April and now stands at 267. She said the government planned to announce next week a long-term plan for reopening so that citizens, businesses and other organizations know what to expect. It is negotiating the next phase of the reopening, which will begin on May 10, with the other political parties.

Inconsistent policy on reopening

The right-wing parties have been pressing for an earlier opening of businesses and other institutions. Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, the chairman of the Liberal Party, noted that people with medical conditions unrelated to Covid-19 were not able to get treatment because of a prejudice toward private hospitals on the part of the government. He said that the reopening has not been “controlled” as it was supposed to be. It has rather been arbitrary, with shifting policies, and businesses must guess the cabinet ministers’ mood if they do not want to be shamed for reopening even under legal conditions – an allusion to the controversy over IKEA’s reopening on Monday. Søren Pape Poulsen, the chairman of the Conservative Party, said that the testing policy has been confusing because it appeared that it was determined by a shortage of equipment rather than principle. 

When asked whether businesses would suffer if the relaxation of restrictions went too slowly, Frederiksen reasserted the government’s position that the process must be done gradually and carefully. She underscored the five main elements of the regimen: more extensive and aggressive testing and tracing; continued use of protective equipment, for example when people visit older relatives; frequent, thorough cleaning; routine social distancing in workplaces and schools; and prevention of “superspreading” in large gatherings such as concerts.

Illness close to home

In the middle of the session, Frederiksen suddenly left Parliament (DK) because she had gotten a message that a family member had fallen ill, and she was driven directly to Herlev Hospital. Later she posted a message on Facebook saying the situation was not serious and she looked forward to continuing negotiations the next day. She didn’t say whether the illness was related to Covid-19.

The “Covid” opposition

On Thursday, political commentator Lars Trier Mogensen, the editor of the newsletter dkpol, wrote that the current parliamentary opposition was the weakest (DK) in this century. He called it the “Covid bloc.” Danish parties are identified by single letters on voting ballots, and the right-wing parties’ abbreviations, beginning with C for the Conservative Party, by an odd coincidence happen to spell “Covid.” 

In his trenchant analysis, Mogensen wrote that it might seem as though the bloc had been bewitched and paralyzed by the corona virus because since the crisis Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats have become more popular than ever in recent times and their own standing in opinion polls has fallen sharply. But he hastens to add that the right wing’s decline had been underway before the corona virus came to Denmark, for several reasons. For example, the Social Democrats have moved to the right and preempted much of their traditional platform, leaving them with no distinctive positions on either cultural values or economic reform – in “psychic quarantine.” In any case, despite its complaints about the details and pace of the process, the bloc is unable to offer any meaningful counterpoint to the government’s handling of the pandemic.

Coronavirus DK: Self-tracing and self-regulating commerce

The Danish Health Authority is planning to change its corona virus testing policy (DK) so that infected individuals become responsible for informing people they have been in contact with about their condition. Søren Brostrøm, the head of the agency, explained that the Patient Safety Authority does not have the capacity to trace contacts because it is testing more people than before. He described the change as a “paradigm shift.” Contact is defined as sharing the same home or being close together for at least 15 minutes. This means that many more people, including those without symptoms, will be tested. According to Lone Simonsen, Professor at Roskilde University, this policy will allow the economy to reopen sooner and make it safer for people who have not been infected to move about in society. 

Others are more skeptical about the plan. Allan Randrup Thomsen, Professor of Virology at University of Copenhagen, is not certain that all infected people will be up to the task. He thinks that active tracing and increased testing will get rid of the virus sooner and allow additional businesses to open, but he also believes that every infected person should have a professional healthcare contact who follows up on the tracing. Martin Geertsen, the healthcare spokesperson for the Liberal Party, says that if the Health Authority wants to change its testing strategy yet again, it should make sure that the public understands its expectations because it has not succeeded in carrying out its earlier plans to test a much higher number of people. In the past week it has increased tests from around 5,000 to more than 10,000, it has said that, with the new Test Centers set up in tents at four locations in the country, it has the capacity to test up to 42,000.

Backdoor fashionistas

Three stores at a shopping center have discovered a trick that has allowed them to open (DK) up again. According to Peter Møller, who owns Herrehuset, a men’s clothing shop, if a store has a back door, it is allowed to open. The front entrance of the shop is closed and displays a sign directing customers to the back. Customers are happy that they can return, says Møller, and the shop has plenty of room so that people do not need to come close to one another. Theresa Berg Andersen, the business spokesperson for the Socialist People’s Party, thinks that the rules need to be clarified. Shopping centers are not allowed to open yet, but it is unclear whether the rule applies to individual shops. Simon Kollerup, the Minister for Business, Industry and Financial Affairs, did not want to comment on the case.

Coming to the furniture giant's defense

Yesterday I wrote about IKEA’s reopening and Simon Kollerup’s disapproval. Various right-wing politicians have now criticized Kollerup for interfering with IKEA’s business (DK). Alex Vanopslagh, from the Liberal Alliance Party, says that when IKEA has a legal right to open it is inappropriate for Kollerup to pronounce his personal opinion about the issue. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, former prime minister, also asks, in a tweet, whether citizens and businesses are supposed to follow the country’s laws or a minister’s intuitions. The right-wing parties demand that the government explain more precisely what rules apply to shops and other businesses. Commentators have questioned Løkke’s own intervention in the lockdown exit strategy debate as undermining the authority of the current Liberal Party leader, Jacob Ellemann-Jensen.

IKEA maintains that it was not subject to any specific order to close. It closed down voluntarily on March 18 and has now implemented precautions to prevent the spread of the corona virus. It has stationed staff throughout the buildings to ensure that customers keep a distance from one another. The police have also been on hand to monitor (DK) the long lines of customers waiting to enter the stores, and they report that people seem to understand the seriousness of the risk and are complying with the guidelines. 

Coronavirus DK: Fighting about unlocking the lockdown

Yesterday I wrote about efforts by the police to enforce social distancing among individual citizens. The government is also trying to keep additional businesses and other organizations from reopening too soon against the wishes of a parliamentary majority.

Some of the smaller municipalities (DK) in the country that have not had many Covid-19 cases want to reopen before the others. As of Sunday, seventeen municipalities had not registered any new infections in at least a week. Henrik Frandsen, the mayor of Tønder, in southern Jutland, proposes opening restaurants as long as they keep patrons at a safe distance from one another. He also wants to open the border to Germany for tourists who can document summerhouse rentals. Other municipalities in the area that are suffering from a loss of tourism agree. Sofie Valbjørn, the mayor of Fanø, argues that its conditions are much different from those in Copenhagen. It is sparsely populated and there is much space and nature reserves where people can move around freely. She proposes opening middle schools and restaurants.

Support for local decisions

While the political parties each have their own positions about what parts of society and the economy should be opened next, a clear majority favors allowing a differentiated reopening (DK), assuming the sound health conditions are observed. The Danish People’s Party would open nursing homes for visits from relatives as well as adult education and nature parks where visitors stay in their cars. “Why wait until the last place in a city is ready to reopen?” asks chairman Kristian Thulesen Dahl. The Socialist People’s Party wants to open middle schools as well as permitting visits to nursing homes. It favors opening localities with a low rate of infection and not localities where people are violating social distance recommendations because otherwise the former will not feel that they are not benefiting from complying with the guidelines.

Most of the right-wing parties adduce economic reasons for a differentiated relaxation of the lockdown. The Liberal Party favors opening restaurants and cafes before public institutions because it will benefit business, which is the foundation of the welfare state. The New Right wants to open the borders to Germany and Norway in order to allow the tourist industry to operate again, bringing income and jobs to the peripheral regions of the country. The Liberal Alliance Party would allow a reopening of the remainder of the educational system as well as restaurants.

Viruses don’t observe borders

The Red-Green Party is the only one besides the Social Democratic administration that is against a differentiated opening. It argues that traffic across the regions will increase, raising the chances of reigniting an outbreak. The Social Liberal Party has not taken a clear position. It defers to the healthcare authorities.

Some experts warn against a differentiated reopening. For example, Hans Jørgen Kolmos, Professor at Southern Denmark University, says that people will travel to regions that opened before others, some will bring the virus with them, and it will be impossible to limit or monitor the spread. Social distancing has worked, and it must be coordinated. Astrid Krag, the Minister for Social Affairs and the Interior, says that the issue is part of the general negotiations on the gradual relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

Deal or no deal?

One place that did reopen yesterday was IKEA (DK). There were lines of customers waiting to come into its five outlets across the country. Simon Kollerup, Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, was not pleased. He says that the retailer has broken an agreement with the administration and will consider taking action. IKEA responded that it was not violating any political agreement, it had announced that it would reopen ten days before, and it had not heard any objections from the administration. The Ministry of Industry countered that during the weekend Kollerup made a clear statement that no additional businesses should reopen until Parliament had decided on an overall plan for the next phase of the lockdown exit process. Mads Satsman-Nørhede, the manager of IKEA’s Taastup store, said that they had adhered to the governments’s general recommendations but if they got an order to close, they would of course comply with it.