Coronavirus DK: Rise in infections may delay phase 4 reopening

The number of infections in Denmark has been rising (DK) in the past month, and some are becoming concerned. The level had been rather low for a long time, and although the rise has not been drastic, it has been steady in the period since the borders were opened. In week 27, which began on Monday, June 29, there was an average of 18 confirmed cases per day. In week 28, the number rose to 24, and last week it hit 34. So far this week, the level is 43.

On Thursday, Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke commented on the increase (DK) in a Facebook post. He wrote that the situation is still under control but urged people to observe the Health Authority’s guidelines. There have been no large outbreaks, added Heunicke, and the Patient Safety Authority, which is responsible for contact tracing, reports that the rise in cases is not owing to increased testing. 

Nevertheless, Heunicke notes that new lockdowns have become necessary in several places, such as Spain, Australia and the US, and urges Danes to be more cautious: “Maybe we have succeeded so well that people have begun to slack off a little on the good habits that keep the virus down. That must not happen. We must not put everything in jeopardy at any price.”

Few new hospitalizations
The most significant aspect of the situation, according to Henrik Nielsen, head doctor at Aalborg University hospital, is that the number of hospitalized and ICU patients has not followed the trend in infections. There is usually a lag of about two weeks between a rise in infections and increased hospitalizations, but the latter have held steady at a low level. Yesterday the total rose from 16 to 19, but it has been below 20 for two weeks. 

Phase 4 of the reopening is scheduled to begin on August 4, with the reopening of nightclubs, concert halls, and other venues where people congregate at close quarters. “We can’t see from the figures whether that will lead to a new wave,” says Nielsen.

The virus loves to party
The trend has led to a division between the two sides of the political spectrum (DK). The left wing wants to reconsider the planned phase 4 reopening. “It is very worrying,” says Peder Hvelplund, the healthcare spokesperson for the Red-Green Party. “It is crucial that we intervene early.”

Giving "disco fever" a new meaning. Photo: Mogens Flindt, Scanpix Danmark.

“Nightclubs could be something that I think it isn’t certain that it is wise [to reopen],” says Kirsten Normann Andersen of the Red-Green Party. She notes that it is especially difficult to trace contacts when you are close together with a crowd of strangers.

Typical political schism
Not all the parties are alarmed, however. “An increase was expected because we are opening further and people are traveling both in and outside the country,” says Stinus Lindgreen of the Social Liberals. “We have seen before that there is a rise and then it falls again.” Karen Ellemann of the Liberal Party agrees: “With these figures I don’t see a cause for concern because there is nothing to indicate that they are out of control.”

The Ministry of Health offered no further comments except to say that the government would discuss the phase 4 reopening with the other parties after the summer vacation. But the Foreign Ministry has just updated its travel advisory and now discourages unnecessary travel to Bulgaria (DK), where young people flock to beach resorts.

Coronavirus DK: Evaluating the lockdown, testing and PPE

Danish researchers are calling attention to a recent study showing the importance of strict lockdown (DK) measures in preventing coronavirus infections and saving lives. That might seem obvious, but this is the first time that researchers have put specific figures on the effects of the policy. They estimate that lockdowns from April to June saved 285 million people in China from being infected, 49 million in Italy, and 60 million in the USA.

“I don’t think that any human intervention has ever saved so many lives in such a short time,” said the leader of the study, Solimon Hsiang, Professor at the Geopolitics department at University of California. The study, which compares the lockdown periods with the trend in infections in individual countries, indicates that the countries that maintained lockdown conditions until the infection rate declined to a low level succeeded in controlling the virus.

Vindication for Mette

The study provides a justification for the Danish policy of maintaining a relatively strict policy even while the infection numbers were declining steadily. A comparison of a few charts shows that countries such as Denmark and Germany, which waited until the infection rate was low before relaxing restrictions, have flattened the curve, while others that did not introduce restrictions or that lifted them quickly, such as Sweden and the United States, have not yet stopped the spread of the virus.

Attracting test subjects

The government recently decided to suspend testing a representative sample (DK) of the population, and the decision drew criticism from researchers and one of the government’s supporting parties. The testing program began in April, when the government started reopening the economy. The number of people who responded to the invitation to be tested fell steadily in step with the decline in infections, and the sample became so small that researchers decided the program was not worthwhile. Of the most recent group invited to testing, only 12.9 percent reported to the country’s Test Centers.

“It is the cornerstone of the entire testing strategy,” says Peder Hvelplund of the Red-Green Party, “and it is an especially unfortunate time to stop the representative monitoring of the spread of infections.” Jens Lundgren, Professor at Rigshospitalet, agrees: “In the beginning of the epidemic, the problem was that we didn’t discover the spread until it was too late. So it’s a bad idea to relax the practice because the situation is peaceful now.”

The government has now responded that it will resume representative testing (DK) with a modification of the approach. Beginning in August, it will test the same control group as before for both coronavirus and antibodies. “We will thus inconvenience fewer people and kill two birds with one stone,” says Rasmus Horn Langhoff, healthcare spokesperson for the Social Democratic Party. Horn Langhoff believes that more people will respond to the invitation again because it includes an antibody test. “Perhaps we should use mobile units that drive out to people,” says Peder Hvelplund, who criticized the suspension of testing project, “or GPs can be part of the solution.”

Who decided whom to protect first

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Health Minister Magnus Heunicke have come under criticism (DK) for a decision in early March to give priority for protective equipment to the Danish Regions over the municipalities. The Regions administer the public hospitals, and the municipalities administer the nursing homes. The equipment was intended for both the staffs and patients of the institutions.

Jane Heitmann, spokesperson for the elderly of the Liberal Party, says that it was very irresponsible to overlook the most vulnerable segment of the population in the nursing homes. Heitmann wants to know whether it was Heunicke himself who made the decision or officials lower down in the Ministry: “There may be good reasons for the decision. But I think that the elderly and the staffs out in the nursing homes need to know who made the decision and why.”

Coronavirus DK: Confusion over testing policies at the border

Several political parties are criticizing the government for not following stricter policies for travelers (DK) arriving in Denmark. They say that all people from countries with a high infection rate should present a recent negative test for the coronavirus or be tested on arrival. The current practice is inconsistent and insufficient, they maintain. Some arrivals from so-called “quarantine countries” with a “worthy purpose,” such as a job interview, must present a negative test. In other cases, people attending a funeral or a business meeting, for example, can enter freely. It is optional whether they submit to a test on arrival.

Are the testing facilities even being used?

Testing facilities were set up at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen on June 15. Since then, some 25,000 people have entered Denmark there, but the number who have presented tests or have been tested is unknown. “We have said that Danes must comply with guidelines,” says Peter Skaarup of the Danish People’s Party. “And then we see, for example, a flight from Islamabad that brought a large number of infected people to Denmark.” Arrivals from high-risk countries should also be quarantined, added Skaarup.

Other parties agree that the current policy is not effective. Although testing is available at the airport, the facility is not prominent. All arrivals should be met by a test team that offers them a test, says Kirsten Normann Andersen, health care spokesperson for the Socialist People’s Party. They should be isolated until we know they aren’t infected, continues Normann Andersen, and that includes all travelers from other EU countries.

One test is not enough

But according to virologist Allan Randrup Thomsen, a negative test is no guarantee that one is free of infection. Tests may not be reliable in the country of origin, and one can become infected after testing negative. “To be certain, people should actually be tested twice at a few days’ interval,” says Randrup Thomsen. “And during that time they should be isolated, if this system is to function optimally.” Randrup Thomsen doesn’t think it is worthwhile to test travelers from all EU countries, however. If the infection rate is below the limit of 20 per 10,000, then the testing would involve much work and identify very few cases. The tests also produce some false positives.

Rasmus Horn Langhoff, health care spokesperson for the governing Social Democratic Party, agrees “with the intention to ensure that we protect Denmark from the coronavirus as well as possible. . . . I’m sure that we can do it better than we do today. And we very much want to look into this.”

Swedes sail to Denmark in vain

The confusion was no more evident than regarding the new regulations for arrivals from neighboring Sweden (DK). The country, which has followed a singularly laissez-faire policy regarding the coronavirus, has about the highest infection rate in the EU. It is one of the EU six countries that Danes are not allowed to travel to. There is an exception, however, for three regions in southern Sweden close to Denmark. Even residents of these quarantine regions are subject to certain requirements, however. If they do not have a valid purpose, such as work or family in Denmark, they must present a negative coronavirus test taken within the previous 72 hours. 

The Swedish media and a ferry company announced incorrectly that a negative test was not required, and the Danish police that manage border control at the ferry terminal in Helsingør had also received incorrect information at first. This led to chaos at the border as many Swedes on the ferry were turned away (DK) and had to sail back to Sweden. The ferry company, Sundbusserne, which had waited three months during the lockdown before opening the route, announced that it was canceling the route again.

Coronavirus DK: Summer traffic, youth programs, test milestone

Saturday was the start of the summer vacation period in Denmark. Schools had just closed for the summer, and the government approved travel to most EU countries. It was also skiftedag (changing-day) at summer house resort regions, the day of the week when  rentals start – last week’s renters leave and the new week’s arrive.

There was traffic advisory for the highways (DK) because many people have chosen to spend their vacation in Denmark and others are heading to Germany, one of the original three countries approved for summer travel. They’re driving because the destinations are close and there’s less risk of infection in comparison with sitting on a plane and passing through crowded airports. So they encountered lines on the main roads out of Copenhagen and at the German border.

Here you can read the official rules and guidelines for travelers entering Denmark (in English).

More soldiers and students

The Danish military services (DK) have increased the number of recruits they will take this year and next in order to give opportunities to young people who are not able to pursue other plans. After high school, many young Danes take a gap year to travel or study abroad, and this year they aren’t able to. Youth unemployment always rises in times of crisis, and it is important to help young people get a good start in life, said Defense Minister Trine Bramsen: “Training in the Defense Forces opens doors in life, and therefore I think we should contribute to the current challenge.” 

The number of additional spots is only about 150; it is limited by the availability of training facilities and instructors. Last year there was a total of about 5,000 recruits in the Defense Forces and the Emergency Management Agency. Earlier, Danish universities announced that they were adding 5,000 spots in technical and health care programs in order to accommodate young people who have trouble finding work during the recession.

More tests

More than 1 million tests (DK) for the coronavirus have now been performed in Denmark. In the beginning of the outbreak, people with symptoms were encouraged simply to self-quarantine, but after pressure from the WHO and others, the Health Authority stepped up its testing program significantly. It set up temporary tents in several cities and offered tests to anyone who suspected they had been exposed to the virus in an effort to gain a more complete idea of the extent of the infection.

The 1-million figure doesn’t mean that 1 million people have been tested, though, because some have been tested more than once. Around 800,000 people have been tested out of the population of 5.8 million. The testing has identified 12,675 cases, and the number of hospitalized patients has fallen to a mere 31.

More protest infections

One of the recent findings of the testing program is the infections stemming from the Black Lives Matter (DK) demonstration on June 7. The event caused concern because it was attended by some 15,000 people, many of them standing close together and chanting and few of them wearing masks. The number of new infections identified from the demonstration has remained low, however. It has now risen to 10 or 12, although it is unknown how many who attended have been tested. 

Coronavirus DK: It's party time, virus be damned

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.

Coronavirus DK: EU border patrol – who’s safe and who’s not

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the first set of European countries that Danes can travel to (DK) as of today, June 27. It consists of 25 countries, a large majority of the EU. Excluded are only Romania, Portugal, the UK, Ireland, Malta and Sweden. “Today’s relaxation of the travel advisory shows that both Denmark and most of Europe are in much better condition than we dared hope only a short time ago,” said Jeppe Kofod, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Frequent updates

The main criterion for allowing travel to a country is that the infection rate is under 20 per 100,000 inhabitants in the preceding week. The list will be updated every Thursday. If a country exceeds the limit while Danes are staying there, travelers are urged to return to Denmark and be tested for the coronavirus. Citizens of these countries may also travel to Denmark if they have reservations for at least six days. Certain regions of the countries may have significantly higher infections than the national average, and SSI, the agency responsible for preparedness against infectious diseases, will maintain a separate list of them.

Regional outbreaks 

This comes at a time when Europe has seen an increase in cases for the first time in the weeks since most of the countries began to relax their lockdown measures. About 20,000 new cases and 700 new deaths are being recorded daily. According to Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, European Regional Director of the WHO, “30 countries have seen an increase in new cumulative cases over the past two weeks. In 11 of these countries, accelerated transmission has led to very significant resurgence.” 

The reproduction rate in Germany (DK), for example, has recently risen from 1.06 to 1.79, and a large outbreak at a slaughterhouse in the Gütersloh region necessitated the resumption of strict lockdown measures. The WHO’s European Region, however, is a much larger area than is covered in Denmark’s travel advisory. It comprises 54 countries and extends to the Middle East and central Asia. Kluge expects the resurgence to subside during the summer but warns that the situation could worsen in the fall, when seasonal influenza and pneumonia return.

Yankee, stay home!

The EU is also preparing its list of countries where the pandemic is so widespread that their citizens will not be welcome when it reopens its external borders on July 1. Along with other disaster cases such as Brazil and Russia and several developing nations, the United States has attained the distinction of being considered too risky. The list is not final yet, but it appears that the EU is prepared to forego the substantial tourism and business travel from America in order to uphold its standard. The benchmark is the average number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, which is also used for the Danish travel advisory. The figure for the EU as a whole now stands at 16. The level in the US is 107.

See Denmark first 

The Danish rejsepas (travel passport) was sold out (DK) on Friday morning. All 50,000 passes that went on sale three days before are gone, as many Danes have chosen to hold their summer vacation in Denmark this year and to use collective traffic. The card gives access to all train, bus, metro and light rail in Denmark for an 8-day period from July 27 to August 9.

Coronavirus DK: Halftime for a divided Parliament

On Monday, Parliament held its last session (DK) before the summer break, and as usual, all the parties took the podium to sum up their concerns. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen began, saying, “With our shared strength, we have won the first half of the battle against corona. . . . We can be grateful. We can be proud. Denmark has done well. But we are not finished.” She urged the unemployed to take advantage of the educational and supplementary training opportunities in the stimulus package. 

Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, chairperson of the Liberal Party, attacked the administration (DK) for its management of the coronavirus crisis. It has usurped some of the powers that should rest with Parliament, he said. “Denmark is in the middle of an economic crisis. We don’t know how deep it will be, but the government has made it worse” with its hesitant and fumbling reopening policies.

The usual bickering

Ellemann-Jensen criticized the latest stimulus package and particularly the DKK 1,000 payment to people who are not working and do not qualify to draw on vacation savings. Pia Olsen Dyhr from the Socialist People’s Party, which supports the administration, called the latter criticism “grotesque” because the Liberal Party had not opposed the package and the one-off payment when they were deliberated.

Aside from that exchange, very little of the closing debate concerned the pandemic. It covered the many topics that have gotten less attention than usual during the crisis: taxes, the climate agreement, immigration policy, the EU and racism. The latter topic, occasioned by the local BLM demonstrations, led to the most heated disagreements, with the right-wing parties denying that racism was a serious problem in Denmark.

The dreaded second wave

Some doctors are warning that, even though the epidemic is under control in Denmark, a second wave is likely (DK). “We shouldn’t believe that the virus is gone and will never return,” says Lars Østergaard, a specialist in infectious diseases at Aarhus University Hospital. Along with two other researchers, Østergaard wrote in an opinion piece that “a second wave seems unavoidable.”

Opinions have been divided about the likelihood of a relapse. In a press conference in May, Kåre Mølbak, the head of SSI, the agency responsible for preparedness against infectious diseases, said that a second wave was very unlikely. The organization itself had actually taken the opposite position in a report before the press conference. 

The three researchers note that the low infection rate in the country leaves a vast majority of the population – 98 percent – still vulnerable to the virus. “With so few people infected, it is in any case likely that there will be a second wave if we don’t prepare ourselves that it could come.”

Elusive network effects

More than 300,000 people have downloaded the Smittestop app (DK), which is intended to track and control the spread of the virus. The app, which is based on technology from Google and Apple, had been delayed because of concerns about privacy. It is unknown what percentage of the population needs to use the app for it to be effective in containing the virus. 

A study from Oxford concluded that 60 percent is necessary. It will be difficult to attain that degree of usage in Denmark because many people appear to think that the epidemic has passed and are returning to their pre-coronavirus behavior. Despite minor recent outbreaks, there are now only 37 people hospitalized and seven ICU patients in the country.

Coronavirus DK: German summer exchange program

Many Danes are following the Health Authority’s travel guidelines (DK) and avoiding summer trips to southern Europe. The Ausfahrt travel agency, which sells drive-yourself vacations in Germany, has seen a large demand since June 15, when the government opened the borders to three countries. Of them, Germany is the most convenient for road trips. People are choosing out-of-the-way destinations over large cities in order to minimize the risk of infection from mixing with crowds and standing in lines. 

And that is sensible, according to healthcare researchers. “Traveling by plane and passing through airports poses high risks,” says experimental virologist Allan Randrup Thomsen. “It’s better to travel in your own car, where you have your own little cabin.”

Financially safer too

It also has financial advantages, says Vagn Jelsøe of the Danish Consumer Council. “The safest is a car trip with hotel reservations that you pay for after each night.” That is because if you buy a plane ticket or make a hotel reservation in advance, you may have to cancel them if the pandemic becomes worse in the country and travel there is prohibited again. If the airline doesn’t cancel the flight, you won’t get a refund. Another solution is a package trip from an agency that offers cancellation insurance, adds Jelsøe, but you must make sure that the terms and conditions are clear.

After the border to Germany opened, the government announced that travel would be allowed to additional European countries beginning on June 27, but some people have chosen not to travel abroad at all this year. Reservations at Danish summer houses have risen. “The situation is unstable,” says Randrup Thomsen, “and you cannot plan a trip many months in advance.

The feeling is mutual

Germans are also showing great interest (DK) in visiting Denmark this summer. There were long lines of cars at the border on the day it opened because travelers must show documentation for their reservations. Retail businesses in southern Jutland also report a large turnout. “There are actually more people than there were at the same time last year,” says Thomas Hansen, the manager of a supermarket in Søndervig. “That is probably because we are not traveling out in the world. Our German guests have just waited until they could come to Denmark.”

“Our reservations are five times higher than normal,” says Ivan Kern Andersen, owner of Dråby Strand Camping. Like the summer houses on the west coast of Jutland, the camp grounds have had an above-average number of Danish visitors in the spring, but they could not make up for loss of business from Germans. The number of tourists is expected to increase further when schools go on vacation. “They say they have missed us,” says Thomas Hansen.

Subsidy for biking and hiking

The government is also trying other measures to increase travel in Denmark. In the month of July, it is proposing to make ferry trips between Danish islands free of charge (DK) for people traveling by bicycle and on foot. “This crisis has been hard. Not least for the peripheral regions in Denmark,” says Simon Kollerup, Minister of Business Affairs, who wants to “support the economy, which is more vulnerable on the small islands.” 

The ferry companies and regions with many ferry routes such as southern Funen welcome the plan, but the opposition parliamentary parties do not consider it a serious remedy that will restore jobs in the tourism industry. “A Band-Aid on an open fracture,” said Troels Lund Poulsen, the financial spokesperson for the Liberal Party.

Coronavirus DK: Opening for travel in Europe

The government has changed its policy on foreign travel. “I understand very well that there are Danes who in the months we have been through have a desire for a clarification regarding incoming and outgoing travel,” said Jeppe Kofod, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who presented the new plan along with Minister of Justice Nick Hækkerup.

Objective criteria

Beginning on June 27, the government will allow travel between Denmark and EU countries (DK), the Schengen Area and the UK on the basis of objective criteria. The most important measure is the infection rate in a country. Other criteria concerning the number of tests will be determined later. The limit is 20 infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week. Countries with fewer infections than that will be designated as “Open.” Countries with 20 to 30 infections per 100,000 will be designated as a “Quarantine Country, ”and those with more than 30 infections will be closed.

SSI, the agency for preparedness against infectious diseases, will update the list every week, and if the infection rate rises in a country, its status can be altered. Currently, all European countries except Portugal and Sweden qualify for Open status. Foreign tourists entering will still need to book a reservation for at least six days, except for people who live in border regions such as Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Tourists from a Quarantine Country must present negative coronavirus test results from within the preceding 72 hours.

Regional exceptions

Special conditions apply to Nordic countries. If a region has an infection rate below the limit, travel will be permitted. This is especially pertinent for the the Skåne region in southern Sweden. Swedish officials have been complaining that its citizens were not given access to Denmark like its other neighboring countries, Germany and Norway. Unnecessary travel outside of Europe is still strongly discouraged, and there are no plans to change that advisory.

Laissez-faire Sweden is the outlier

The list of registered cases is based on data from Johns Hopkins University. For the week ending June 17, it shows that Sweden had 75 cases per 100,000, Portugal had 20.2, the UK had 13.7, and all others had fewer than 10. The level in Denmark was 4.8, which was slightly higher than that of France and Italy and slightly lower than in Spain.

Opposition and tourism industry still dissatisfied

Several other parliamentary parties have been pressuring the government (DK) to relax the travel restrictions. “This is a step in the right direction,” said Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, chairperson of the Liberal Party. But these parties are still unhappy that travel outside of Europe is not permitted. Recently the SAS and Norwegian airlines announced that they would reopen a number of international routes on July 1. The parties also find the six-day reservation requirement arbitrary. “It is completely destroying the hotel industry,” said Søren Pape Poulsen, the chairperson of the Conservative Party.

If we let everyone in, answered Hækkerup, “we would risk importing infection chains and be forced to roll back the reopening.”

Coronavirus DK: Opinion surveys on risky travel and racism

A survey made by YouGov for the B.T. tabloid shows that a certain number of people are disregarding the travel restrictions (DK) set forth by the government and Health Authority. According to the advisory, before the borders to three countries opened on June 15 Danes were to avoid unnecessary travel and if they did travel, they were to undergo 14 days’ quarantine after they returned. The ban covered neighboring Sweden, where many Danes have summer houses. 

In the survey made on June 5 of 1,255 persons representative of the Danish population, some 4 percent responded that they had traveled abroad in the past month, and of those, 45 percent said that they had not quarantined themselves afterward. If the figures are extrapolated to reflect the entire country, they correspond to 8,400 adults who, after being abroad, returned to their workplace and frequented supermarkets and restaurants without first undergoing quarantine. According to Allan Randrup Thomsen, Professor of Virology at University of Copenhagen, it is very likely that there is a superspreader among that number. “It is thoughtless and inconsiderate that they do not comply with the rules that we are all subject to.”

More tabloid readers will flout advisory

In a separate survey of the newspaper’s 55,000 readers, 11 percent of them said that they intended to take a vacation in a country that the government has forbidden because of the risk of infection. Thomsen warns against the risk of the infection spreading from hotspots where many tourists gather and reminds us that in March relatively few skiing tourists from a small area in northern Italy and Austria were responsible for spreading the virus throughout Western Europe. It is possible that B.T.’s readers are less likely to comply with recommendations than those of some other newspapers, but it is also possible that they are more representative of the Danish population.

Since June 15, people in Denmark may travel to three countries – Germany, Norway and Iceland – without undergoing quarantine afterward. If you travel to other countries, it is not against the law not to quarantine yourself, but your employer may require you to do so. And if an employer forbids employees to travel to other countries beforehand, you can be fired for doing so.

News flash: Danes don’t think they’re racists

Another poll indicated that just over half of Danes do not think that racism is a problem (DK) in Denmark. Some 51 percent answered that they disagreed either completely or to a great degree with the statement that racism is a widespread problem in the country. Some 32 percent agreed completely or to a great degree. The breakdown among various demographic segments was not surprising. A larger percentage of younger respondents, aged 18-29, say it is a problem, as do people who vote for left-wing parties, with the exception of the center-left Social Democrats. A large majority of voters for the other parties do not believe it is a problem. The survey was made after the demonstration against racism and police brutality that was held in Copenhagen on June 7. 

The results do not surprise Mira Skadegaard, a postdoc researcher at the Institute for Culture and Learning at Aalborg University. Most people in Denmark do not experience racism since by definition it is a minority of the population that is subject to discrimination, says Skadegaard. But there is now a greater awareness that racism exists, she continues, and that is positive because previously we have not talked about it much and have been in denial about it.

Racial or ethnic discrimination?

One possible problem with the survey may be that it does not capture opinions about the views on ethnic and religious minorities. Racial minorities in Denmark are very small, and issues involving discrimination have concerned mainly Muslims and immigrants from the Middle East, most of whom are not black. 

Coronavirus DK: Putting (their own) cash in consumers' hands

The government has announced that it will release wage-earners’ forced vacation savings (DK) to stimulate the economy. This measure is possible because of a change in the timing of vacation savings that is taking place this year. Some background: 12.5 percent of Danes’ earnings are deposited in a vacation account and released when the person holds vacation. Previously, you accumulated the savings in one calendar year and they were released after May 1 in the following year. Everyone has a right to five weeks’ vacation after one year’s employment. 

With the change, workers now earn their vacation days and accumulate vacation savings that they can withdraw in the same year. The transition to the new schedule ends in September 2020. The change means that the savings people accumulate in the transitional period will not be paid out for their vacation period in 2020 but rather are being placed in a collective fund, the Wage Earners’ Vacation Fund. The amount that workers are entitled to from this period will be paid out when the person reaches retirement age. It is intended to constitute a sort of forced savings that the Danish state has implemented previously.

Gauging the dosage

So now the government has reached an agreement to release some of these funds this year in order to stimulate the economy, which is undergoing a recession because of the lockdown. There is some DKK 100 billion ($15 billion) in the Fund. It will not release all the funds now, however, but rather three weeks’ worth, or 60 percent. The reasoning is that the recession will have long-term effects and the infusion of money into the economy will be more effective if it is spread out. The first instalment will be disbursed in October, and the parties will negotiate the timing of the release of the rest in the autumn.

The measure was raised during negotiations on the economic rescue plan with the other parliamentary parties. It was proposed by three right-wing parties and endorsed by both labor and industry associations. The latter estimate that the measure – the release of the entire Fund – will support 30,000 jobs. Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen presented the plan on Friday: “We will take it one step at a time,” he said when asked about when people will get the rest of their savings. “We want to release it in doses that have the most beneficial effect.”

The plan will mean that 3 million wage earners out of Denmark’s population of 5.8 million will receive a payment. For someone with an income of DKK 330,000 ($50,000), it will amount to DKK 14,700 ($2,200) in the first instalment and DKK 24,500 ($3,7500) in total.

Economists approve, others dissatisfied

Several economists support the measure (DK) and also the timing. They recall that in 2009, during the recession following the financial crisis, a fund for special retirement savings was released. Some 60 percent of the amount went to consumption and helped to keep the economy running. They suggest that the funds be released around the time that the temporary wage compensation program expires, on August 31. 

People on transfer payments (DK) have no wages and therefore no vacation savings. They include retirees, students, those on disability pensions, and welfare recipients. They will receive a one-off, tax-free payment of DKK 1,000 ($150). Three right-wing parties left the negotiations just before their conclusion, partly because of this feature. The Danish People's Party objected to the terms for retirees, as did the DaneAge Association (the counterpart to AARP), which argued that many of the elderly have a low income and would spend the money on consumption and thus support the economy. Other parties objected that people on transfer payments should not receive anything extra at all. 

Coronavirus DK: Tourists, start your engines

Either because of pressure from the opposition parties and the private sector or the steadily declining number of infections, or both, the Danish government is relaxing some of its last lockdown restrictions ahead of schedule. As noted yesterday, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democratic administration lifted the midnight curfew for large parties in restaurants and rented premises. 

On Friday it announced that is would ease certain aspects of its travel restrictions. On Monday, June 15, the borders will open for tourists from three countries – Germany, Norway and Iceland. Previously, they could not stay overnight in Copenhagen /DK), where the coronavirus infections have been concentrated. The tourist industry had been especially critical of the exception, partly because the capital is the single biggest draw for foreign visitors. Now tourists may stay there as well, provided they book a reservation for at least six days, as stipulated earlier. 

When asked whether the previous decision had been wrong, Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup replied, “When we made it, the circumstances were that we would proceed carefully and make sure that the infections don’t lead to an outbreak again. But we must also listen to the criticism that arises and the developments in the world around us.”

Bright lights, big cities

A restriction on Danes’ travel abroad was also lifted. Previously, people were urged to confine their summer travel to the three countries listed above and also to avoid cities with a population over 750,000. That category consists of five German cities, including Berlin and Munich. There are none of that size in the two other countries. Danes may now visit these cities (DK). The policy was changed to make it consistent with the foreign tourists’ opportunity to stay in Copenhagen. 

“I can understand that this creates uncertainty,” said Erik Brøgger Rasmussen of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “But the coronavirus is uncertain, and everything changes from day to day.” 

Germany jumps the gun

According to reports from the border, German police had already stopped checking cars (DK) entering from Denmark on Friday, three days ahead of the planned date. Tourists crossing the border into Denmark from the three countries will be invited to take a test for the virus, but the test is not mandatory. 

The government is also working on a plan to allow Danes to travel to additional countries (DK) before the end of the summer. It intends to prepare a “model for travel advisories” that will not endanger Denmark’s progress in controlling the virus. Jeppe Kofod, Minister of Foreign Affairs could not say whether specific countries or dates are being considered or when an announcement on the change can be expected.

North Sea beaches poised for friendly invasion

Tourists will flood into Denmark on Monday (DK), the day the border reopens. “It will be a fantastic, insane day,” said Hanne Thyssen, director of Danibo Summerhouse Rentals. Some 14,000 summerhouse reservations have been made for the first week, 91 percent of them in Jutland. Guests normally arrive gradually from Friday to Sunday for a week’s stay, but because of the delay in the border opening, Thyssen expects to see guests arriving at 400 summerhouses on the island of Fanø in southern Jutland on Monday. 

Many small businesses as well as the municipalities in southern Jutland are eagerly awaiting the return of German tourists, many of them regular visitors who have been forced to reschedule their stays. Although the sudden influx of tourists will put pressure on rental offices on Monday, it will be far below the normal level of 30,000 summerhouses that are occupied at the high season in mid-July. 

Coronavirus DK: Growing chorus: LIBERATE us from red tape

Some people are getting impatient with the government’s “gradual and controlled” reopening. That has led to a reversal of the so-called “midnight rule” (DK) for large parties at hotels and restaurants. According to the government’s plan for the relaxation of pandemic restrictions, restaurants and bars were allowed to open but must close by midnight. The rationale was that if people keep drinking into the night, they will be less careful about observing social distancing and good hygiene. The rule was extended for the sake of consistency to cover private gatherings held at these locations and other rented premises for wedding receptions and other large parties.

Cinderella versus the Nanny State

The right-wing opposition parties, along with the Social Liberal Party, thought this was going too far. They called the rule an expression of a “nanny mentality” and said that during the summer, the high season for such gatherings, the parties would just migrate at midnight to private homes and continue in the yard. This faction constituted a parliamentary majority and threatened to overturn the rule, but the Social Democratic government acceded to their wishes. Now parties can continue through the night as long as the gatherings involve people who know one another and others are not allowed in, they sit down, and they observe social distancing. 

When Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup was asked what this concession meant about how much the government has regulated things, he replied, “Although it resembles a small problem, it is a problem that has received much attention and therefore shall have this solution.”

European hordes clamoring at the gate

On Thursday, the EU Commission recommended that member states open their borders (DK) to other EU countries on June 15. Denmark’s plan is to keep its borders closed to all but a few countries until August 31. The EU cannot force individual countries to open their borders, but almost all the member states are planning to open their borders by June 15. The EU Commission also recommends that member states open the borders to countries outside the EU that have the pandemic under control as well as the EU countries. 

The European Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, happens to be Swedish, and Sweden has been pressing Denmark to allow its citizens access to Denmark. Sweden has a much higher infection rate than Denmark and its other neighbors, Norway and Finland. “There are perhaps 20,000 infectious Swedes,” says Christian Wejse, a specialist in infectious diseases at Aarhus University, “and with open borders they could quickly start new cases here.”

Bureaucratic jungle

On Friday, the left-leaning daily Information published an editorial calling the government’s reopening policy a “farce” (DK). The government has been preoccupied with small distinctions in detailed rules about hotel stays, high school graduation celebrations, reunifications with partners abroad, and arbitrary closing times for restaurants. Freedoms that people had taken for granted have been passed out in small bit after political negotiations, and it has created a bureaucratic jungle of arbitrary, special laws. People have difficulty understanding them and will stop following them instead of focusing on the crucial factors of social distancing and washing their hands.

Coronavirus DK: Criminals exploit the crisis

The Danish government’s decision to disburse the funds in the economic relief package quickly has enabled some businesses to collect money under fraudulent pretenses (DK). That was reported on Thursday by the Danish State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime, which is usually referred to by its Danish abbreviation, SØIK. The funds were intended to pay employees' salaries while they could not work and to compensate firms for operating expenses. The agency suspects that more than DKK 7 million (about $1 million) was disbursed unnecessarily, and it has thus far recovered about DKK 670,000 (about $70,000). The Secretariat for Money Laundering has received 133 referrals from banks on possible swindling with relief funds. 

The industry association for small and medium-sized businesses fears that the reports may have consequences for its member firms, which are most in need of relief funds but which also have fewer resources than larger firms to satisfy the increasing requirements for documentation and control of the disbursements. The association had requested a quick release of the funds because many small firms were in danger of going bankrupt.

Whistleblowers wanted

On Wednesday, Minister for Business Simon Kollerup announced that the government, along with almost all the other parliamentary parties, passed a bill to prevent such fraud (DK). The bill includes a whistleblower program that will make it easier for employees and others to report the abuse of relief funds. Fraud related to the aid package is subject to much higher penalties than usual.

Don’t talk to strangers

At the lower end of the crime scale, there have also been reports of thieves using the coronavirus crisis as an excuse (DK) gain entry into people’s homes. For example, four men and a woman were convicted of robbery for threatening to commit violent acts against a couple in their eighties in the municipality of Hvidovre. They are also subject to higher than usual sanctions because their crime involved exploiting the pandemic. 

Earlier a woman retiree in southern Jutland received a visit from two men in plastic outfits and masks (DK) who said they were from the Health Authority. She didn’t let them in, and when she lifted her phone to show that she would call the police, they ran off. The police warn that trick-thieves exploit the Danes’ high level of trust in one another and in the authorities and that people should be skeptical and ask for identification in such situations.

The most vulnerable victims

There are also suspicions of a worse sort of crime that is not being reported (DK) to the usual degree because of conditions during the lockdown. The number of reports of sexual assault against children has fallen sharply in the past two months. Cases of rape and incest are down 60 percent, and cases of other violence against children are down 42 percent. The likely reason is that children have not been in school regularly and their teachers have not had the opportunity to observe signs of abuse.

This has led Astrid Krag, the Minister of Social Affairs and the Interior, and Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil, the Minister of Children and Education, to send a letter to schools and recreation centers urging the teachers and staff to be attentive to such developments. Spokespersons for the police and Save the Children concurred that the lockdown is probably the reason for the drop in the reports.

Coronavirus DK: Testing for all while social distances shrink

Now anyone can be tested (DK) for COVID-19. Previously, only people with symptoms could request a test and they had to do it through their GP. On Monday, the Health Ministry announced that people who have only a slight suspicion that they have been exposed to the coronavirus can order a test on the coronaprover.dk website. The purpose is to track down as many infections as possible before they infect others, said Health Minister Magnus Heunicke. The new policy is possible because the country’s testing capacity has been expanded substantially in the past month. Up to 42,000 persons can be tested per day.

Wait your turn, boomer

In the first stage, young adults from the ages of 18 to 25 are eligible to make an appointment at one of the 16 Test Centers set up in large white tents located across the country. Later in the week, the system will be open for the rest of the population. People who are identified by contact tracers as having been exposed to an infected person will be referred for a test automatically. Heunicke cautions that people with a negative test result must still observe careful hygiene and social distancing because the result does not guarantee that someone is not infected.

Some 4,500 persons succeeded in booking a test (DK) on Monday. Many more people tried, even though they weren’t all in the right age group. By the afternoon, 25,000 people were waiting in line on the website. The Health Ministry has not announced when other age groups will become eligible.

Quarantine fatigue?

The expanded testing policy comes at a time when more people than ever are disregarding the government’s guidelines (DK) on social distancing. A new survey from Epinion and Aarhus University shows the largest drop in the number of people who avoid gatherings of more than ten people, the current limit, since the lockdown was imposed on March 13. The percentage who observed the limit declined from 85 percent on May 8 to 71 percent on May 15. The level had been stable in the range of 81-89 percent since March 20. More than 17,000 persons took part in the survey.

Unlocked and optimistic

One can also notice a difference on the streets and in shops, say observers such as retail salespeople. People are less careful to maintain social distancing and they are coming into contact with others they haven’t been exposed to before. The trend does not necessarily mean that people have become indifferent to the guidelines, however, according to Professor Michael Bang Petersen, who worked on the survey. More than half of those surveyed still wash their hands more than ten times a day. The main factor, says Bang Petersen, could be that the sphere of their daily routines has expanded with the lifting of lockdown restrictions and more people are back at their workplaces, for example. Others warn that hand-washing alone shouldn’t be considered an adequate precaution.

The exhortations by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and healthcare officials have always stressed that the lockdown exit process depended on the continuation of social distancing. The survey also shows that people are less worried and more optimistic about the country’s condition. 

Coronavirus DK: Speeding up the reopening

On Wednesday, after ten hours’ negotiations, the government reached an agreement with all the other parliamentary parties on an acceleration of phase 2 of the plan to reopen additional sectors of society and the economy (DK). Several types of organization can resume activities on May 27 instead of in June, as scheduled earlier. These include amusement parks, secondary education, adult education, cultural associations, nursing homes for visits, and public-sector workplaces except in the Greater Copenhagen and Zealand Regions. Museums, theaters and zoos may open immediately. 

This means that almost everything that still had been closed can reopen on the condition that they observe the guidelines on hygiene and social distancing. The only exceptions are gyms and other indoor sports and recreational activities, nightclubs and concert halls, and institutions of higher education that have not already opened as well as public-sector offices in Zealand. This is the first time the reopening plan has differentiated between the policies for individual regions.

The change in the timetable was made possible because of a new report from Statens Serum Institute (SSI) showing that the infection rate in the country remained low despite the relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

Partying can wait

The parties also agreed raise the limit on gatherings gradually to 30 to 50 persons during the summer, beginning with the transition to phase 3 on June 8. On May 25, the borders will open (DK) for residents of the other Scandinavian countries and Germany who own a summer house or have relatives in Denmark, and a plan to open the borders further for foreign tourism will be announced by May 29.

A majority of Parliament consisting of the right-wing parties, the Social Liberal Party and the Alternative Party had pressed the government especially to open the borders (DK) and to increase the limit on gatherings before the end of May. The SSI warned particularly against large indoor gatherings. When people are together for an extended period without adequate ventilation or the liberal consumption of alcohol makes the observance of precautionary guidelines more difficult, there is a risk of “superspreading” (DK).

Tourists can wait

“The border is the factor that has the greatest economic significance for Denmark right now,” said Jacob Ellemann-Jensen of the Liberal Party. The right wing received support for this position from the WHO (DK), whose spokesperson recently stated that because of its progress in controlling the virus, Denmark should be able to open its borders, assuming that it does so carefully, for example by screening tourists. 

The report from the SSI warned that opening the borders posed a risk of starting new chains of infection. Pernille Skipper of the Red-Green Party agreed, reminding the others that the Health Authority had advised allowing for three weeks between phases of reopening in order to monitor the spread of the virus.

The WHO vs. Mette

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has thus far resisted the economic arguments for large events and open borders. “When you come into Christiansborg [Parliament], you almost get the impression that we have left corona behind us,” she said. “If Denmark has a prime minister who lets herself be pressured into something that isn’t defensible, it simply won’t work. And it won’t happen with me.”

Coronavirus DK: Did the government mislead the public?

On Monday, Berlingske (DK), the Danish daily, reported that figures presented by Statens Serum Institute in March on the spread of the coronavirus were incorrect. On March 30, SSI announced that in the first 12 days of the lockdown the reproduction rate, R0, had fallen from 2.6 to 1.4. On the basis of the data available at the time, the actual levels were 2.1 to 1.3. Berlingske called the error an ”exaggeration” (DK) of both the danger of the virus and the improvement that took place after the government’s lockdown. SSI acknowledged the mistake, which it explained by saying that the figures did not include people who had been infected abroad. The other statistics released by SSI apparently did include those persons. Upon the release of the figures, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had announced that the country had succeeded in delaying the spread of the virus and that there were grounds for cautious optimism.

Did the mistake influence the strategy?

Allan Randrup Thomsen, Professor of Experimental Virology at University of Copenhagen, says it was a serious error. On the basis of the data available today, the figures for the period in question are even lower, showing a drop from 1.5 to 1.3. Jan Pravsgaard Christensen, Professor at the Institute for Immunology and  Microbiology at University of Copenhagen, says that if the correct figures had been released on March 30, the lockdown might not have been so drastic. But he added that any reproduction rate above 1.0 indicated an accelerating spread of infections, so if the lockdown had not been as strict, the result might have been a longer lockdown period. SSI rejected the description of the figures as misleading.

Yesterday Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke responded (DK) to the report. He said that the error was irritating but that it was a minor “editorial error.” He maintained that the number of hospitalizations in early March was rising sharply and that government’s lockdown was a necessary step to control the crisis.

Independent review

In a related development that may not have stemmed directly from the controversy about the infection figures, a parliamentary majority proposed an independent evaluation (DK) of the government’s handling of the pandemic from the beginning of the year. The Social Liberal Party, which supports the Social Democratic administration, joined four right-wing opposition parties in calling for the appointment of a committee of five persons with diverse expertise who would be given access to all the government’s and the relevant agencies’ documents during the period. The faction stressed the importance of such an evaluation’s being based in Parliament rather than the administration. 

“When you place the entire society on hold, people have a right to know afterward whether it was done on the basis of the correct assumptions,” said Peter Skaarup of the Danish People’s Party. It would be unusual that such an investigation would be managed by Parliament rather than by one of the ministries, but the deviation is warranted, says Mai Mercado of the Conservative Party: “At a time when Parliament has been sidelined, it is very important that Parliament takes charge of determining the model of the evaluation.”

Reopening the rest of country

The administration has invited the other party leaders to a meeting today to discuss the next steps (DK) in the relaxation of the lockdown restrictions. The negotiations will be based on the latest figures from SSI, which the administration expects to receive this morning and to pass on to the party leaders “as quickly as possible.”

Coronavirus DK: Reclaiming "hygge"

Some people have become familiar with the Danish concept of hygge in the past several years when reading explanations for Denmark’s top ranking in the international happiness surveys. It refers to a special feeling of comfortable conviviality among family and friends. The adjective hyggelig is translated as “cozy.” For many people who enjoy visiting their local pubs and cafes regularly, hygge has been one of the main things they have missed since the lockdown went into effect more than two months ago.

Where everybody knows your name

Yesterday restaurants, cafes and bars were open for business again. For some of the regulars at the local pubs (DK) it was a great relief to be able to sit down in a familiar booth and toast to a reunion with their friends. Some retirees showed up soon after the place opened at 10 a.m. and started off with a cup of coffee. “It’s been pure hell psychologically,” said one. “I hadn’t smoked in a year and a half, but now I started again. Shit-crisis.”

“It’s been terrible not to have anyone to pester, tease, exchange banter and have fun with,” said another.

The bartender isn’t worried about getting infected any more than in other places. He’s just happy to be back in his daily routine. “The only positive thing about it was that I cleaned up the entire apartment. All the drawers, closets, papers. . . . You had to make use of the time, otherwise it would have been fucking boring to stay home.”

Sanitized camaraderie

The local hangout might not look quite the same. The tables are farther apart. Bottles of hand sanitizer stand on all of them. There are no stools by the bar. Some bars have set up plexiglas barriers that people have become familiar with at supermarkets and kiosks. The owners set a limit on the number of patrons so that there are at least two square meters per person, but they don’t want to have to monitor whether they all keep one meter away from one another. People ask about the rules. “If you bring a dog, does it count toward the limit of ten in a group?” 

The police were checking (DK) that the establishments followed the guidelines on limiting the number of guests and positioning the tables. They needed to clarify the rules in only a few cases, and they didn’t issue any fines. They believe people have a good understanding of social distancing principles by now. The turnout yesterday might also have been limited because the weather wasn’t favorable for sitting outdoors and some people decided to wait before dining out again.

Many small businesses were able to survive because they received aid from the government to cover employees’ wages and operating expenses. But it will still be a struggle for venues that depend on foreign tourists, meetings, conferences and other large events. Restaurants may not stay open after midnight.

Middle schools and libraries

Pupils in the upper grades also returned to school (DK), including boarding schools where many kids spend ninth or tenth grade. They were happy to see their friends again, but it felt strange not to be able to hug them. They were divided into groups of eight that they can come close to and must keep clear of the others, even boyfriends and girlfriends. Other people were happy to be able to visit their neighborhood library branch again. “I didn’t know what to read,” said one visitor. “I read all the murder mysteries and other things. I picked up old books again.” In this stage of the lockdown exit, libraries are open only for picking up and returning books; people can’t sit in the reading rooms yet. But they’re getting a reminder of life B.C.: Before Coronavirus.