Coronavirus DK: Of mink and ministers

Like most everywhere else, Denmark is suffering from the second wave, but it is much milder here than in the larger European countries and in its misguided neighbor Sweden. That hasn’t prevented a political scandal about what should have been a secondary issue, though. 

Mink enjoying their last days in captivity. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen © Scanpix.

First, an overdue summary of the health situation (DK):

• Cases of infection (yesterday/total): 1,220 / 64,551 (800-1,200 in past month)
• Tested (yesterday/total): 68,750 / 6,455,895
• Hospitalized (yesterday/total): net -8 / 259
• Intensive (yesterday/total): net -3 / 41
• Recovered (yesterday/total): 1,265 / 49,961
• Deaths (yesterday/total): 4 / 768
• Percentage of positive tests: 1.6% (1.3%-1.9% in past month)
• Reproduction number (est.): 1.1
• Deaths per million: 133 (vs. Norway 55; Sweden 614; USA 751; UK 772; Italy 755)

And a summary of the restrictions in effect (DK):

• Face masks required on public transportation, in public buildings, in supermarkets and shopping centers, at doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals; partial requirement at schools and other educational institutions. 
• Limit on gatherings to 10 people in public places; recommended also for private gatherings.
• Limit of 500 people at sports events, concerts and churches.
• Restaurants and bars close at 10 pm. Masks required except when sitting down. Nightclubs closed. Sale of alcohol banned everywhere after 10 pm.
• The municipalities in northern Jutland that were closed for travel have reopened.

Minkgate
The big story of the past week or two has been the government's handling of the infections discovered at mink farms in Jutland. It has been well-covered in English-language media. The story morphed from being about the health threat of the outbreak to a scandal about Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s premature and illegal order to destroy 15 million mink and then Agriculture Minister Mogens Jensen’s apparent disregard for several warnings about the spread. Frederiksen has rescinded the order and apologized, and the government has reached a compromise on culling the mink and compensating the breeders, although the measures have not been enacted yet and Opposition parties have been critical of the entire series of events.

Agriculture minister and chickens also face termination
Denmark is the largest mink fur exporter in the world. Kopenhagen Fur (DK), the auction house for some 1,500 breeders in Denmark, recently announced that it would close over the next two or three years. In the spring and summer, Frederiksen enjoyed high approval ratings for her handling of epidemic and withstood criticism of the lockdown from the business-friendly right-wing parties. Now it appears that more people are suffering “corona fatigue” and are also tiring of her relatively autocratic style of governing. Even the government’s supporting parties are saying that Jensen should resign (DK). 

On top of this came a discovery of serious cases of bird flu (DK) earlier this month. Some 25,000 chickens have been culled, and exports of chicken and eggs outside the EU have been suspended. This outbreak poses no threat to humans.

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: The Hjørring mutation and Big Brother

I wrote recently about two separate reports of outbreaks of the coronavirus in Hjørring in northern Jutland, one at a nursing home and another at a mink farm. Officials have now determined that it is the same mutation of the virus (DK) that occurred in both locations. “We have used our brand-new genetic tool on tests from the mink from the farm in Sindal, the mink breeders who are sick, and the residents of the nearby Vendelbocenter [nursing home],” said Anders Fomsgaard, a virus researcher at SSI, the agency for preparedness against infectious diseases. “And we can see that it’s the same virus. They have infected one another.”

Who infected whom, mink or man human?

Well, at least one of them infected the other, but Fomsgaard cannot yet say who had the virus first. All the mink on the farm, more than 10,000, were slaughtered. At the nursing home, 12 residents and 29 staff were found to be infected. The Hjørring municipality has also found infections among pupils at three schools. The pupils had connections to the other infection sites. Another mink farm in the municipality is being investigated. 

Officials are trying to determine how the outbreak originated. The mutation appears to be unique to these locations. “It does not appear in the virus in other places in Denmark or Europe, so this apparently has not been a foreign infection,” said Fomsgaard. Several coronavirus outbreaks have occurred at mink farms in the Netherlands, and more than 500,000 mink have been slaughtered.

The app is finally ready

Last week the Health Authority launched an app (DK) intended to help people avoid the coronavirus and break chains of infection. The app, which is called Smittestop (Infection Stop), works by bluetooth monitoring. Persons who are infected register the infection in the app, and when they are within one meter of another person for 15 minutes, the other person receives a warning in the app. The notification does not identify the infected person by name.

Questions about effectiveness and privacy

The app, which was developed by Netcompany, was originally described as being “free” (DK). Later, its cost was estimated at DKK 10 million, and now it is up to DKK 20 million ($3 million) for use only during the last six months of this year. Its development was delayed because of a security feature on iPhones that blocked its functioning. Data from contacts is saved only on people’s phones and not in a large database.

Concerns about privacy have been paramount. Nevertheless, some people are skeptical about the app (DK), sometimes for contradictory reasons: It won’t work; it comes too late; people won’t use it; it’s the start of an authoritarian surveillance society. Why delay notification for 15 minutes when you might already have become infected?

1.6 million users and zero results

Several countries have had problems with contact-tracing apps. A similar app in Norway was discontinued because officials decided they should not gather a large amount of personal data when the number of infections was very low. More than 1.6 million Norwegians downloaded the app, and it has not led to a single positive coronavirus identification. But that’s not necessarily bad news; it’s an indication of how safe Norway is.

Coronavirus DK: Stopping infections at protests and mink farms

Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke says that the health authorities will issue guidelines for large political demonstrations (DK) in order to avoid the spread of the coronavirus. At least one person who attended the Black Lives Matter demonstration on June 7, along with 15,000 others, has tested positive, and other people who were part of the closely packed crowd are urged to be tested. 

Event arrangers “will get a very concrete evaluation from the Danish Patient Safety Authority on how they should conduct the demonstration purely from a healthcare perspective,” said Heunicke. He stressed that this measure will not abridge people’s constitutional right to stage political demonstrations, which are the only exceptions allowed to the restrictions on the number of people who may attend gatherings. On June 8 the limit on gatherings was raised from ten to 50.

More requests for tests

Since Heunicke urged demonstration participants to be tested, the number of referrals for tests has risen (DK). The day after, there were 400 more bookings than usual. “I thought it was an opportunity to take responsibility for what I did and to see whether or not I have been infected,” said one person at the Test Center, who had worn a face mask and tried to keep a distance from other demonstrators. Despite the rise in bookings for the tests in the capital region, the testing is still below capacity.

Flashmob with precautions

BLM was to hold another demonstration (DK) on Thursday, and the spokesperson for the organization, Bwalya Sørensen, says that it would use special measures to prevent the spread of the virus. It bought 250 face masks, it had lots of sanitizer, and it would divide participants up into groups of 50 or fewer. “We have chosen a flashmob instead of a demonstration,” said Sørensen. “We have done it simply to keep the number of participants down.” More than 100 people have signed up for the event. 

After the demonstration on June 7, Sørensen received criticism for issuing restrictions on the behavior of white people at the event. The Ritzau news agency wanted to ask her whether the guidelines would also apply at the new demonstration, but she hung up the phone.

Virus infiltrates key export product

A coronavirus outbreak has been identified in a new location, a mink farm in northern Jutland (DK). The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration has tested 34 mink and placed restrictions on the farm. The herd in question will be slaughtered, and the farm will be quarantined. Mink breeding is an important industry in Denmark, which is the largest mink breeder in the world, with almost 1,400 mink farms.

This is the first time the coronavirus has been discovered at one of them. The infection probably came from an employee or the owner the farm, say the authorities.There were coronavirus outbreaks at two mink farms in the Netherlands in April. 

“We will be completely certain that we do all that we can to limit the infection,” said Mogens Jensen, Minister of Environment and Food, “also among mink.” The ministry is investigating how the infection arose and preparing a testing strategy for other mink farms in the region, among other measures. Healthcare researchers are not worried (DK) that the infection will spread from mink to people and say that pet owners shouldn’t be afraid that their dogs and cats will make them sick.