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.

Coronavirus DK: The police crackdown finally arrives

People can’t say they hadn’t been warned. The police waited a long time before beginning to issue fines to people who gather in groups of more than ten. Their instructions had been to break up the groups with “dialogue and instructions” (DK) and only to issue fines as a last resort if those methods didn’t work. Dialogue is always the preferred solution, they say. The groups usually did disperse, but sometimes they returned after the police had gone or others gathered later in the same area. In the past week, when warmer spring weather arrived, they issued only seven fines in the entire country. Almost everyone got off with a warning, while the healthcare authorities kept telling them that they risked losing the progress that the country had made in controlling with pandemic in the past month. 

But now the cops have lost their patience. They say people have had time to learn the rules and now they will issue fines more readily. Saturday evening they issued fines to ten people who were playing a game on the beach. Except for a couple who escaped, each of them was fined DKK 2,500 (DK) (about $350), as the police were quick to tweet soon afterward. Sunday morning they issued the first fines (DK) to people loitering at Islands Brygge, the popular waterfront area in Copenhagen where a complete ban went into effect the evening before. One victim was a woman who was sitting on a bench (DK) by a playground with her seven-year-old daughter and her daughter’s friend.

$350 for sitting with two seven-year-olds

In an interview afterward, the woman said she had been shocked that the police gave her a fine without a waning. There was no one else in the playground and no sign at the entrance saying that they couldn’t be there. She lived in the neighborhood and had been concerned herself about the large crowds gathering there. She had been so surprised that she hadn’t even asked the police the amount. “Oh no, no, no!” she said, when the reporter told her. When the police were asked whether the fine wasn’t excessive for a woman and two small children, a representative said that it might seem unfair to an individual, but there were signs all over the Islands Brygge neighborhood and the situation should be seen from a wider perspective.

Sunday evening 11 young men and boys (DK) aged 16 to 21 who were gathered near the harbor in Odense, Denmark’s third largest city, were also issued fines. The police sent a tweet soon afterward as if they were eager to publicize the fact that they were no longer issuing warnings and allowing exceptions. The young people knew they weren’t supposed to be standing together, said the police shift captain, because they dispersed as soon as they saw us. At a club in the Northwest district (DK) in Copenhagen, 34 people were fined for gathering without any creditable purpose. The prohibition against groups applies to both public and private locations, said the police. Fines were issued to all 34 individuals, bringing the total amount to DKK 85,000 (more than $12,000). If some of them want to appeal, said the police, it will be up to the courts to decide their fate.

Collateral damage

The crackdown is bad news for Bryggens Spisehus (DK), a popular café at Islands Brygge. Adem Asci, the proprietor, says that before the ban on the area he had started to reestablish his takeout business. Customers generally kept a distance from one another when they stood in line and took their food to the nearby benches, he said. That is, until Thursday and Friday, when large crowds started congregating there. Now Islands Brygge is empty. Asci says that if the police had acted more resolutely earlier, it might not have been necessary to issue a total ban on the neighborhood.