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.
As the latest sign that Denmark believes it has the insidious coronavirus under control, this piece of breaking news hit the media yesterday: Government gives green light to high school graduation joyride (DK). You may recall that, as I reported a couple of weeks ago, at a debate about the government’s handling of the pandemic (DK), the leaders of the parliamentary parties discussed this graduation tradition:
Some people say Danish teenagers are spoiled. There is a tradition here that just after their graduation ceremony, gymnasium (high school) students are drawn around town in a large open trailer, cheering and honking, stopping at their homes for snacks, and drinking and partying long into the night. There has been some concern that this year’s graduates may not be able to enjoy the custom because of the epidemic and the increased risk of its spreading under those conditions.
At the political debate on Thursday, several of the party leaders expressed a wish that this graduating class not miss out on this rich tradition (DK), even if it was borderline unadvisable because of the difficulty of following hygienic guidelines when drunk. One of them, Josephine Fock of the small Alternative Party, made the heretical suggestion that the rides could be held without drinking. After the debate, however, Fock clarified in a tweet (DK) that she had meant it only as an alternative if the rides would otherwise be disallowed and that she also preferred that they take place “WITH alcohol.”
Are these kids being indulged? Only yesterday, I wrote about a group of high school students who took a trip to Sweden despite the government’s travel restrictions and exposed their classmates to their infections (DK). The mayor’s response: Don’t scold them – help them.
Had their hearts set on it
After thorough deliberation, Pernille Rosenkrantz-Thiel, the Minister for Children and Education, could announce, “I have the incomprehensibly good news for students that, yes, they may ride in the trailers.” There was broad support for the decision across party lines.
There will be some modifications to the graduation ceremony, however. Instead of the entire graduating class gathering in an auditorium to receive their diplomas, the diplomas will be awarded in smaller class units of about 30 students each. “As a government and a parliament, we had to consider the total package,” explained Rosenkrantz-Theil, “and we know from the students themselves that the most important aspect has been the trailer ride.”
Turns Health Authority’s advice on its head
This plan is actually the opposite of the recommendation from the Health Authority, which would allow the ceremony with all the graduates but would prohibit the ride. Rosenkrantz-Thiel stressed, however, that the tradition of jumping into fountains around the city and large parties with several smaller classes together would not be allowed. Negotiations about other details of the proceedings are under way.
Other MPs endorsed the decision: It is “totally extremely important for the young people” to ride around, said Jens Henrik Thulesen Dahl of the Danish People’s Party. “Now the Health Authority must put on its work clothing and formulate some guidelines for how it can take place in a sensible way,” said Ellen Trane Nørby of the Liberal Party.
The main ingredient
The big question was then whether alcohol would be permitted. As Rozencrantz-Thiel put it, it is important for Parliament that “the young are allowed to be young. . . . So it will be with alcohol, but with slightly different guidelines than normal.”
The students themselves were of course pleased. (DK). “We are young, of course,” said Oliver Asmund Bornemann, chair of the Confederation of Commerce Students. “And we must be allowed to be. That also entails drinking alcohol and kissing on the graduation trailer.”
