Coronavirus DK: Recovered cases, protesters & dog test positive

Some persons who have recovered from COVID-19 are testing positive (DK) for the coronavirus. In a study at Aarhus University, around 20 percent of 200 persons tested still had the coronavirus four weeks after they had recovered from the illness. Martin Tolstrup, Lecturer in Infectious Diseases, made the study in order to determine whether the patients had antibodies against the illness and also tested them for the virus. “We are very surprised at the high number who are still positive,” he said. The patients no longer had symptoms, but the researchers do not know whether they are infectious or how to interpret the persistence of the positive results.

“I have reached out to several other researchers, but no one knows,” continues Tolstrup. “There are reports from abroad about a reactivation of the virus.” In South Korea, some recovered patients tested negative and later tested positive. Some of the patients in Tolstrup’s study had both antibodies and the virus. Tolstrup has not seen any indication that these patients are infectious, but others are conducting contact-tracing to see whether they have infected anyone recently.

But are they infectious?

Jens Lundgren, Professor of Infectious Disease Medicine at Rigshospital in Copenhagen, is not surprised by these results. “It can take up to four to six weeks before the PCR test [for the virus] tests negative. We do not expect that it is an infectious virus.” Lars Østergaard, Professor of Infectious Disease Medicine at Aarhus University, agrees but notes that it is not certain that recovered patients cannot infect others. “If they prove to be infectious, that of course raises new questions about how we contain the virus.”

Potential superspreader event

More people who attended the Black Lives Matter demonstration (DK) on June 7 have been found to be infected. At least three additional cases have been identified. Attendees had been warned of the risk of infection before the demonstration, in which 15,000 people participated, many standing very close together and chanting. After the demonstration, they were urged to undergo a test, but it is unknown how many have done so. BLM held smaller protest demonstrations in other Danish cities as well. Political demonstrations are exempt from the limit on the number of people who may gather together.

First Danish pet with coronavirus

Several days after reports of coronavirus infections at a mink farm in northern Jutland, the virus has been identified in a dog (DK) at the same farm. It is the first time a pet in Denmark is known to have been infected. The dog’s owner was instructed to treat the dog according to the same guidelines as the people on the farm. It must “avoid contact with other animals and people outside the household,” said Mogens Jensen, Minister of Environment and Food. The Ministry does not believe that the dog will spread the infection, “but we must keep it away from sick people in the family,” said Peter K. Embarek, an expert in food-borne illness outbreaks. 

Coronavirus in Denmark: Has the danger passed?

On Friday, April 17, the Ministry of Health released a list of the healthcare-related professional and service businesses covered by the agreement to expand phase 1 (DK) of the reopening of society and the economy. The businesses may resume normal activities on Monday. The list includes private hospitals and clinics, dentists, physical therapists,  ophthalmologists, psychologists, hairdressers, tattoo parlors and other small services that involve close contact with customers. Other professional services such as law and accounting firms are also covered by the agreement. The first phase of the reopening extends until May 10. The health authorities have not yet seen whether the favorable trend in infections and hospitalizations has changed since the Easter holidays, when families traditionally gather. If the figures worsen, tighter restrictions may be reinstated. Restaurants and bars were not included because they attract larger numbers of people than the customers on the premises of smaller service businesses. 

The ban on gatherings (DK) of more than 10 people is still in place, says the Ministry of Health, and it has been extended until May 12. The ban does not apply to schools, day-care centers and other organizations that are covered by the gradual relaxation of restrictions that began on April 15. More specific guidelines apply to those institutions. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated yet again that the reopening depends on people continuing to follow the guidelines for social distancing. During the Easter holidays, the police issued 56 citations for violations of the limit on gatherings. Watch a pair of cops trying to break up small crowd (DK) enjoying a beer in the sun on the benches by Dronning Louise’s Bridge in Copenhagen. They didn’t fine anyone in this case and generally praised citizens for their cooperation.

A typical flu season?

A report from Statistics Denmark (DK) shows that the number of deaths since the first death in the coronavirus outbreak on March 14 until April 12 is no higher than normal. This year, 4,794 people died during the period. In the same period in 2019, the number was 4,498, and in 2018, it was 5,131. The epidemic thus does not seem to have caused an increase in mortality, says Dorthe Larsen, an official at Statistics Denmark. Larsen cautions, however, that the figures fluctuate from year to year depending on when a wave of influenza hits the country, that additional deaths may be reported, and that it is sometimes unclear whether the cause of death is Covid-19 or another illness. Thus far, 336 people have died from Covid-19, and the number of daily deaths has generally been falling since April 1.

The Greater Copenhagen Region has tested 20,000 healthcare employees (DK) with contact to patients for Covid-19 antibodies. The preliminary results show that the percentage of people infected is around the same as in the general population, as represented by the results of testing blood donors. Some 4.1 percent of the healthcare staff had antibodies, versus 2.9 percent of blood donors, and the difference is considered as being within the margin of error for the test. There may be a variance among individual hospital wards, for example, but Svend Hartling, the head of the Region, hopes that the results will help to allay the staff’s concerns about becoming infected. On Thursday an employee at Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital died of Covid-19.

Not enough testing

The Danish Regions want to expand the testing for Covid-19 (DK). Stephanie Lose, the chairperson for the Regions, said that the Regions have unused capacity for testing. She invited people with mild symptoms to ask their doctors for a test and urged doctors to refer people for tests. Søren Brostrøm, the head of the Health Agency, has said that he would like to test 10,000 people per day. The number tested has risen to around 6,700 but in recent days has fallen to 3,500. The policy has changed a couple of times and has perhaps been unclear for both GPs and patients. The priority has been testing healthcare personnel, but recently people with mild symptoms were supposed to be tested. The only person I know of who has requested a test had cold symptoms for three weeks. Her GP rejected at least two requests, and she arranged to be tested at a private clinic. 

Coronavirus in Denmark: Restrictions to be eased further

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and others held a press conference on Tuesday (DK), the day before the reopening of schools and day-care centers. She reported that the number of hospitalizations and ICU patients are declining more quickly than expected and that the country can open up slightly more in next phase than it had planned. She did not specify what restrictions would be relaxed but said that the administration’s focus was on workplaces and the economy. Frederiksen seemed relieved, more relaxed and confident – even happy – as she announced the change in the administration’s outlook. She defended its conservative policy, praised people for their cooperation in observing the social distancing guidelines during the Easter holidays, and reiterated the necessity of continuing the practice.

R0 shrinking to a safe level

Statens Serum Institut released a report yesterday afternoon on the status of the infection with an estimate of the R0 rate (DK), that is, the rate of infection from an individual Covid-19 patient. The rate had fallen from 2.6 persons on March 12 to 1.4 persons on March 24, to 0.9 on April 7, when Frederiksen presented the reopening plan, and further to 0.6. A level below 1.0 means that the virus is not spreading. At the press conference, Kåre Mølbak, from the Institute, said that the positive trend was owing in particular to the behavior of people in the 70-80-year-old age group (DK), who followed the administration’s guidelines and avoided infection. He added that the infection rate would rise to about 0.8 after the first stage of lifting restrictions but would remain under control. 

Frederiksen invited representatives of the other political parties to a meeting immediately after the press conference to discuss how to expand the reopening. She had previously been criticized for not including other parties in the decision on the extent of the first phase of reopening, and yesterday, as the figures on infections and deaths continued to decline, she came under pressure to ease up (DK) further on the restrictions. The administration had chosen to follow the most cautious of the three policies that the Ministry Health set forth for the first phase of the reopening, which is scheduled to run until May 10.

Professional services and small businesses could be next

 At the subsequent meeting, the parties had many and various recommendations for relaxing (DK) the restrictions. The Liberal Alliance Party favored opening professional services as well as restaurants that can adhere to precautionary principles. The Danish People’s Party emphasized the need for contact among older people who have been isolated and sometimes become lonely and depressed. The Socialist People’s Party and the Social Liberals recommended opening adult education, the courts and small businesses such as hairdressers and dentists. Other parties urged opening of outdoor clubs, afterschool workshops and other educational institutions. The New Right had a detailed plan for accelerating the reopening schedule to cover almost everything by May 20. No conclusions were reached at the meeting.

This good news came after reports yesterday that the four largest municipalities in the country, including Copenhagen, would not follow the Health Authority’s recommendation that children from households with infected people should attend school. After many parents and several political parties expressed concerns about the policy, Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke announced that it was changing the guidelines to allow such children to stay home. Teachers and day-care staff with sick family members in their homes were still expected to work, however, because they should be able to maintain good hygiene.

Coronavirus in Denmark: Returning to normal – gradually

On Monday, Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke announced that the healthcare system would begin resuming normal operations (DK) this week. Ordinary activities have been suspended since the outbreak of the epidemic, but now the epidemic is considered to be under control and the system has the capacity to treat other health issues as well. Patients normally have a right to be treated within 30 days. A backlog of cases needing treatment by both GPs and specialists has accumulated during the crisis, including thousands of elective surgery procedures. 

The administration reached an agreement with organizations representing the Regions, the Municipalities and the Danish Medical Association but not with the other political parties. Last week, the opposition parties called for concrete measures to reestablish patient rights.  Heunicke stated that he wished that the administration could have reached a broad agreement on reopening the system with the other parties, but the “political will” was lacking. The Ministry of Health has not set a date for formally reinstating the treatment guarantee. The chairman of the Danish Medical Association, Anders Rudkjøbing, stated that it would be irresponsible to reinstate the guarantee (DK) now because the system cannot yet operate at full normal capacity.

Are recovered patients immune?

The health authorities are working hard on an antibody test (DK) that will show whether recovered Covid-19 patients have acquired immunity to the disease. According to Martin Tolstrup from the Institute for Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University, who heads the project, most people who are infected develop antibodies, but it is not yet certain that they have developed immunity. His group is applying antibodies to live viruses in petri dishes to see whether the antibodies kill the viruses. This is an important issue, not only because the results will determine whether recovered patients, including healthcare personnel, can return to work. Plasma from patients with strong antibodies could also be used as a treatment for new Covid-19 patients. But that part of the project could take up to a year, says Tolstrup, around the same amount of time for a vaccine to be developed and approved.

Margrethe Vestager, the European Minister for Competition, has recommended that EU member states be prepared to take stakes in private companies because there is a risk that China will attempt to take over companies that are in a distressed financial condition because of the epidemic. Vestager, who is the former chair of the Danish Social Liberal Party, was speaking generally and not in reference to Denmark in particular. But DR’s business correspondent Jakob Ussing says that the warning applies to Denmark (DK) as well as to the larger European countries. China has had an interest in acquiring infrastructure and technology companies. After the financial crisis, a Chinese company bought Greece’s largest harbor, in Piræus, for example. China is interested in green energy, one of the fields in which Denmark excels, and a Chinese company has already acquired a tower plant from Vestas, Denmark’s leading wind energy firm.

Man’s Humans’ best friend in a crisis

International business competition is not the only area where a watchdog is needed. The Dansk Kennel Club reports a large rise – around 40 percent – in demand for dogs (DK) since the lockdown. Other dog breeders have seen similar interest, and animal shelters have fewer occupants than usual because of adoptions. According to breeders, the reasons that people want dogs now are that they have more time for pets at home under quarantine and they are not making plans for summer travel. A spokesman for Animal Protection Denmark, Jens Jokumsen, however, warns that a pet should not be an impulse purchase. People must also be prepared to care for it after the epidemic ends. They should also take time to consider what is the best breed for their family.