Non-virus interlude: Mayhem in the streets, Danish style

What’s going on here? 

Photo: Ekstra Bladet.

In the US, when you see a photo like this, you might think it’s from another BLM protest, an Antifa attack, or a white supremacist rally that got out of hand, and wonder when the country will ever recover. Not here. This is a brawl between soccer fans (DK) of the arch-rival clubs FCK (Copenhagen) and Brøndby before a big match on Sunday. Denmark has the luxury of being able to go amuck about less serious things than structural racism and the capitalist patriarchy.

Terror in Tivoli

Saturday evening, the police got a report of a man with a gun in Tivoli Gardens (DK) in central Copenhagen. Several police cars with cops in riot gear descended on the world’s oldest amusement park and pacified the guy without incident. “It turned out it was a toy pistol,” said shift captain Henrik Svejstrup. “Maybe not exactly the place to do it.” The man was charged with threatening behavior.

We can attack statues too

In my own neighborhood of Frederiksberg, a statue drama of Lilliputian dimensions (DK) is unfolding. In 2006, a small plaza opposite the main shopping mall in the area was renamed Empress Dagmar’s Plaza. David Munis Zepernick, a councilman from the Social Liberal Party, wants it renamed and the statue torn down. Dagmar (1847-1928), a Danish princess who married Emperor Alexander III of Russia and became known as Empress Maria Feodorovna, had no connection to Frederiksberg, explains Munis Zepernick. She was commemorated there only because of base commercial interests of Russian companies and Danish firms with export business in Russia.

Like honoring Hitler’s mistress

Say what? Yes, Munis Zepernick asserts that the comparison is apt because Alexander III was one of the worst tyrants and antisemites in history. The councilman has a convenient solution that would also address the “uniform masculine white dominance and almost total lack of presence of female historical figures in the city space”: Rename the spot “Queen Margrethe’s Plaza” after both Margrethe I (1353-1412) and Margrethe II, Denmark’s current monarch.

Defending Dagmar

Nicolaj Bøgh, Chair of the Frederiksberg’s Culture and Leisure Committee and member of the Conservative Party, takes a dim view of “hopping onto the stupefying contemporary identity politics wave and attempting to edit the past.” Destroying Dagmar’s statue because you don’t like her husband seems absurd and has little to do with the cause of equality, says Bøgh.

Frederiksberg has long had close relations with the royal family, he adds. Dagmar’s brother, King George of Greece, and his family are commemorated in the names of nearby streets. Dagmar passed the last years of her tumultuous life in Denmark after her son, Emperor Nicholas II, abdicated and was executed by the revolutionary government in 1918.

Coronavirus DK: Denmark finally recommends masks

The Danish Health Authority is now recommending the use of face masks (DK) for the first time, but only in selected situations. The agency updated its guidelines on Thursday with this announcement: “People can use face masks for short periods in special situations in order to protect others from the coronavirus.” It is thus not recommending that everyone wear masks, that people wear them in all situations, or that people wear them in order to protect themselves. The announcement cites the change in the WHO’s guidelines last month to recommend the use of masks in certain situations on the basis of new knowledge about the spread of the infection.

The Authority advises that masks be used in situations where you cannot follow the general recommendations, on social distancing for example. They are most important for people who are infected, who have symptoms, or who have been exposed to someone who might be infected.

Photo: Coronavirus.dk.

These are the situations:

• You are infected or have symptoms and must leave isolation in order to travel to or from a hospital.
• You are returning home from traveling to a high-risk country and must undergo self-isolation.
• You are in close contact with someone who is infected and must break self-isolation in order to transport you to a test.
• You are related to a person with elevated risk and cannot maintain physical distance, for example because you must care for the person.

The Authority stresses that it is crucial to wear masks correctly, to follow good hand hygiene when putting them on, to change them after every use, and to have a good supply if you need to wear them.

“Masks must be seen as an extra tool in the workbox,” the announcement concludes. “There are other, more effective tools, for example self-isolation if you are sick, keeping 1 meter’s distance, and adhering to good hygiene.” The Authority has produced a folder and a poster (DK) on the correct use of masks.

Tracing app is spreading

On June 18, the Ministry of Health released the Smittestop app, which is intended to monitor the spread of coronavirus and warn people who come into proximity of it. It has now been downloaded 745,000 times (DK), and people have registered their infection 112 times. The Ministry did not disclose the number of notifications.

According to researchers, the number of downloads is satisfactory and the number of infections registered is not so low considering Denmark’s low reproduction rate, but they hope to see more downloads. They are preparing models based on the spread of the virus that the government can use to determine what to keep open and closed in society and the economy. “If there is a new outbreak, we can make fewer interventions if the app is in widespread use,” says Jacob Stoustrup, Professor at the Institute for Electronic Systems at Aalborg University. 

As described in an earlier post, when you are in close proximity for 15 minutes with someone who is registered as positive for the virus, the app sends you a notification. The notification does not include the name of the infected person, and the data are encrypted, anonymous and stored only on individual phones. Researchers would prefer having more data available but acknowledge the need for privacy.

Not everyone can download the app. It requires a phone with Android 6.0 or iOS 13.5. 

Coronavirus DK: Big shifts in trust in government and the US

Two interesting surveys have just been released, and the results in Denmark have implications for an understanding of the situation in the United States.

One is the annual Tryghedsanalyse (DK) (security survey) conducted by a foundation associated with the Tryg insurance group. It gathered data from both before and after the onset of the coronavirus crisis, ending on May 22. It showed, among other things, that 84 percent of Danes surveyed were very or fairly satisfied with the government’s management of the epidemic. That was the highest rating of any European country. Norway and Finland came next. Toward the bottom were Sweden (55 percent), the UK (45 percent) and France (37 percent). Confidence in all public institutions rose, not only the administration and Parliament but also the police, the courts and the EU.

Rising to the occasion

In a column on Altinget.dk, Lisbeth Knudsen (DK), former editor in chief of a major daily, calls this a significant change in recent Danish politics. It begins, “For years we have discussed what would be necessary to turn around the public’s worrying and growing lack of confidence in politicians. . . . We now have the answer: an enormous, comprehensive health care crisis.” The pandemic showed that the government could respond effectively and collaborate constructively with other parties in Parliament, without the usual bickering and personal attacks.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen succeeded in presenting a narrative that appealed to the country’s social democratic principle of solidarity at a time when many were more insecure than ever about losing their jobs, partly by emphasizing an obligation to protect those who were most vulnerable to the virus. The crisis has strengthened the Social Democrats’ standing in polls, and it has also forced the opposition to take an approach based more clearly on solutions and new ideas rather than tactical criticism.

Litmus test for the world

The results of the poll show an extreme contrast with Donald Trump’s current record-high disapproval rating and Americans’ growing distrust in government. The pandemic has served as a sort of acid test that throws the strengths and weaknesses of all countries into stark relief. This reflects not only on their leaders but also their institutions, such as the CDC, which bungled the testing at the outset of outbreak, despite all its plans and resources.

Former enemy overtakes Cold War champion

The other survey, which was conducted by the independent research institutes Moos-Bjerre and Userneeds and whose results were released in Weekendavisen (DK, paywall), concerns Denmark’s international security alliances. It has more direct relevance to the US, which has been Denmark’s most important ally throughout the Cold War and after. The poll shows that now only 40 percent of Danes surveyed agree with the statement “The USA is Denmark’s most important ally,” while 54 percent now assign that role to Germany. 

In addition, 65 percent believe that “In the future, Denmark  should give priority to collaboration with the other EU countries over collaboration with the USA.” These are historic shifts, and somewhat surprising, since Germany is no military power and Denmark has often taken a dissenting position in the EU, regarding immigration and shared debt for example.

How much blame does Trump deserve?

One can debate how much the development is owing to Trump and his myopic nationalism, particularly his threats to leave NATO. For a while after Trump’s election, most Danes probably agreed with former Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen that “The USA is Denmark’s most important ally – no matter who is in the White House.” Brexit may also have nudged Denmark closer to its continental European neighbors, and Emmanuel Macron’s tribulations may have left Angela Merkel as the clearest leader of what used to be called “the Free World.” But Trump has undoubtedly soured Danes' perception of the US, even though it remains the only superpower in the West. 

Coronavirus DK: Entertainment industry on the ropes

Concert halls, theaters, clubs and other venues with live entertainment are warning that many of them will not survive (DK) unless the government changes its plans for reopening. These cultural organizations are still closed and are receiving compensation for fixed expenses and salaries. They are scheduled to reopen in phase 4 at the beginning of August. But the restrictions that they will need to operate under will make it impossible for many of them to make a profit or break even. 

The guidelines state that there must be 4 square meters’ space for each guest. The club Stars in the town of Vordingborg, for example, has capacity for an audience of 430 standing guests, but according to the coronavirus rule, it can admit only 50 people. “If we can’t fill the room, we can’t pay the musicians for playing and we can’t pay our bills,” says Simon Sandfield, who runs the club.

Politicians will rescue disco

“We’re being asked to open, but also asked to die,” says Eben Marcher, the head of Danske Live, an organization that represents cultural venues with live entertainment. “If we can let only one out of ten guests in, it can’t be a viable business.” Marcher estimates that half of these venues could go bankrupt.

MPs from both the opposition and the government’s supporting parties are listening to the warnings and calling on the Minister of Culture to take action before phase 4 begins. “We need a government and a minister that take responsibility and show leadership,” says Zenia Stampe of the Social Liberal Party. Minister of Culture Joy Mogensen responded in an email that if the restrictions are still necessary after the summer, the Ministry will consider how it can help cultural life. It invited Dansk Live and Danske Theater to a meeting on Wednesday.

Amusement park operators are not amused

Another segment of the Danish leisure economy is already suffering financially after reopening. Sommerlande are amusement parks (DK) for children that open in the summer; they have lodging, swimming pools and other recreational activities for young families. They are found in every region of the country, and they are reporting that they had many fewer guests than normal last week, the beginning of summer vacation for the schools. They opened six weeks later than usual, and they have had no foreign tourists, which account for one-quarter of their 12 million visits annually. 

They are also operating under other disadvantageous conditions, explains Søren Kragelund, the head of the amusement parks’ industry association. They have extra expenses for following hygienic requirements, and they are also subject to “unfair” competition. Under the government’s stimulus package, cultural institutions such as museums and zoos receive subsidies so that they can offer admission at half price. Amusement parks must demand full price and are losing customers to these other offerings.

“We’re talking about [organizations] that often already receive support and don’t risk going bankrupt,” says Kåre Dyvekær, the head of Sommerland Sjælland. There is some hope for improvement, though, as repeat customers with seasonal passes return. The weather was also very rainy last week. A sampling of museums and zoos revealed that they also had lower than usual attendance then.

Coronavirus DK: Sunny Beachhead for the virus

Even though the coronavirus is well under control in Denmark (as I have written at the start of several posts), there’s always something to be worried about. This week it’s the 150 or so young Danes who have taken to beach resorts in Bulgaria (DK) to party their brains out and who risk bringing the stealthy pathogens back to Denmark. Recently, advertisements by a travel agency for wild dance floors in discotheques at a favorite destination drew the ire of politicians and healthcare researchers for being irresponsible in the coronavirus era. 

“Tired of everything you can’t do in Denmark?” read the ad from DUF travel agency (DK). “At Sunny Beach you can: Party with more than 2,000 other young people. Be at a club all night. Pool party. Boat party.” 

The concerns of the grownups turned out to be justified. The ads were withdrawn, but they had infected their targets. “There are a lot of rules at home now that they don’t have here in the same way,” said one partygoer, Lasse Birch Cassen, “so down here we can really let go like we can’t at home.”

Melting pot of infection

According to the government’s current advisory, travel to Bulgaria, an EU member state, is still permitted. But the country, like the US and some others, is setting records for new infections this week. So the Foreign Ministry is warning travelers to be “extra careful.” Virologist Allan Randrup Thomsen sees a clear parallel to the situation at the ski resorts in Ischgl, Austria, that set off the pandemic in Europe in February: “What we are afraid of is that there is a single superspreader at one of these beach parties and 20-30-40-50 can quickly become infected.”

At places like that, visitors from many countries can create a “melting pot of infection,” says Søren Riis Paludan, another virologist. “The problem is that young people may not show symptoms. . . go under the radar and infect others.” Riis Paludan compares the situation to the one in Florida, where young people were responsible for much of the spread of the infection.

Driven outdoors

After the criticism, the agency changed its tune, “directly recommending that our guests not go to nightclubs” and suggesting instead “the large open-air beach bars,” said managing director Anders Marcuslund.” According to the Bulgarian coronavirus rules, people are to maintain a social distance of 1.5 meters, and if that is not possible, to wear a face mask, which none of the people on the dance floors in the photos seem to be doing.

The Foreign Ministry is following the situation carefully, and officials urge returning travelers to be tested and to isolate themselves until they get a negative test.

Not our fault

On Thursday, the Bulgarian government decided to ban indoor nightclubs (DK) and allow outdoor beach bars to operate at only 50 percent capacity. While some young Danes were annoyed at the restrictions, others didn’t think it would make any difference for them. DUF’s Marcuslund fully endorses the move: “We were of course one step ahead of the Bulgarian authorities.”

When reminded that the guests are still getting drunk, dancing close together, hugging one another and sharing drinks – those “buckets” with several straws in them – Marcuslund maintains that the agency advises people to follow the guidelines but that they are also a “personal responsibility,” concluding, “I don’t think it’s much worse than what you see at home.”

Coronavirus DK: New passport, roller coasters, tweeting praise

Danes can now get a COVID-19 passport (DK) if they have tested negative for the coronavirus in the past seven days. They can use it to travel to countries that require such documentation. As soon as the lab has processed your test and released the results, you can go to sundhed.dk (DK), the website where everyone’s health information is stored, and download the passport, which has a document validation number and can be printed. 

Not all countries will recognize this document, however. Some have special requirements, for example that you use their own official form for test results and have it signed by a doctor. You should find out the regulations in force in any country that you are traveling to or through. You can see them on the Danish embassy’s website for the country in question. You can order a test for the coronavirus at coronaprover.dk (DK), which has an English version.

Masks as passport to fun

But if you want to ride a roller coaster at Djursland Sommerland, an amusement park in mid-Jutland, a COVID-19 passport won’t be enough. You will also need a face mask (DK). Face masks have not been mandatory in Denmark and are seen very rarely outside of hospitals and perhaps nursing homes. Since it opened one month ago, Djursland Sommerland has been able to load its roller coasters only to one-quarter of their capacity. It has now received permission from the government and the Patient Safety Authority to make this experiment and fill up the Dragon King with screaming riders. 

“There is no doubt that it is more fun to stand in line for a ride for only ten minutes instead of an hour,” says Henrik B. Nielsen, the director of the amusement park. All the amusement parks in the country are eligible to take part in the experiment. The masks cost an extra DKK 5 ($1), and they can be used only for one ride. “We don’t earn anything from selling these masks,” says Nielsen. “And the policy has actually been very well received by our guests.”

Him again

Danish media have noticed that the word “Denmark” has popped up in a tweet from a country where face masks are becoming the occasion of a civil war, more precisely, from the White House. Along with Germany, Norway and Sweden, the country was cited because “SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS.” Trump threatened to withhold funding for school districts that don’t hold ordinary classes when the school year resumes.

This comes at a time when the US is setting records for new COVID-19 cases and a couple of days after the Orwellian president claimed that the US death rate was “just about THE LOWEST IN THE WORLD!” He may have been too busy playing golf these days to notice that no one has been envying the epidemic conditions in Sweden for some time.

Coronavirus DK: Big race canceled and a letter from the Devil

Today the government’s limit on gatherings was raised (DK) from 50 to 100 people. That was according to an agreement made one month ago. The limit will be increased further to 200 people on August 8. Researchers think lifting the restriction is reasonable since the infection rate in the country has fallen very low, but they warn that the virus is still circulating and the great majority of people are vulnerable to it. They urge people to maintain social distancing and good hand hygiene. By mid-June the police had issued 836 fines for violating the limit.

Wait till next year

The gradual increase of the limit is not enough to save the Copenhagen Half Marathon (DK) this year, though. The arrangers decided that it would not be responsible to unleash 25,000 runners onto the streets of the capital as planned on September 13. They were annoyed that they had not received guidelines from the government on the conditions for holding the race. Almost half the participants are from abroad, and many do not know how they stand in relation to the current rules on travel and lodging, explain the arrangers, Sparta and Dansk Athletics. They considered postponing the event until later in the year, but the uncertainty would remain and the weather could be worse. 

The Copenhagen Half received much attention last year, when it sold out for the first time and the world record was broken (DK). Kenyan Geoffrey Kamworor ran the distance in 58:01. “People in the running scene began to compare us with the Berlin Marathon, the London Marathon and the New York Marathon,” says Dorte Vibjerg, Sparta’s managing director. “And we want to preserve the brand that we have developed.” Earlier in the year, the DHL Relay Race, the world’s largest, with more than 200,000 participants, was also canceled. The CPH Half is scheduled to resume in 2021.

Bribe from the “world’s most dangerous man”

An American living in Denmark got a surprise in her mailbox – a letter with a check for $1,200 (DK) from Donald Trump. “It was confusing, it was incredible, and I was insulted,” said Amy Faircloth, an anthropologist who has lived here for 45 years. The payment was part of the $2 trillion US relief package. Some 160 million citizens are to receive up to $1,200 to help them survive the coronavirus pandemic financially. That includes $2.5 billion for American citizens who live abroad, since they are also liable for income tax in the US. 

But the letter itself was disconcerting. It was presented in Trump’s “grandiloquent” style “as if it were his money that he was giving to me personally,” said Faircloth, and the signature “resembled a seismogram of a very bad earthquake.” In his notoriously crude and narcissistic fashion, Trump had insisted that his name appear on the check. But Faircloth believes that if he thinks he can buy votes that way, he is mistaken: “Actually, I think the problems in the US are that people don’t listen to one another. People are convinced that Donald Trump is a savior, and others think he’s the Devil himself.”

The check arrived just as the contents of the latest book about Trump, by Mary Trump, his niece and a clinical psychologist, are being disclosed. The book may offer the most detailed portrayal yet of Trump’s many pathological traits throughout his life.

Coronavirus DK: Life on the streets - some surprise findings

During the coronavirus crisis, people in minority and vulnerable groups have been subject to an increase in hateful behavior. The Institute for Human Rights released a report (DK) on how ethnic minorities, LGBT+ persons and disabled persons have experienced harassment, threats and violence since the epidemic began. It shows a distinct rise in such incidents. Some are related to the virus, for example, “Go home, China!” sometimes directed at an adopted person of Korean ancestry who grew up in Denmark.

Opportunistic bigotry

But others seem unrelated. Same-sex couples might be told to maintain a distance between them. “The corona epidemic simply shows that many Danes have a very heteronormative understanding of gender,” says Susanne Branner Jespersen, head of the Secretariat at LGBT+ Danmark. A blind person who inadvertently comes too close to someone on the sidewalk becomes the recipient of an unpleasant remark. The Institute hopes to use the report to develop new guidelines in case crisis conditions return.

Reducing violence

Corona conditions have led to another discovery about social behavior: When bars and nightclubs were closed during the strict lockdown, from mid-March to mid-April, reports of violence fell 31 percent (DK). That was the finding from a collaborative study by the police, Southern Denmark University and the Crime Prevention Council. “We could consider how late we serve alcohol, for example,” said one of the researchers. The Social Democrats’  spokesperson for legal affairs suggested limiting the period when hard liquor is served, but his opposite number from the Danish People’s Party viewed such a step as breaching a basic freedom. 

Denmark has fairly liberal business hours for bars and clubs. They are up to the individual municipalities, and some are open until 6:00 a.m., which is much longer than in neighboring countries. Several studies have shown that incidents of violence and ER visits decline for every hour that business hours are curtailed. On May 18, restaurants and bars were allowed to reopen and operate until midnight. Nightclubs and discotheques are still closed.

Or domesticating violence?

But if people are forced to leave clubs, which have professional security staff, they will just continue to party elsewhere without supervision, notes Kirsten Munch Andersen of Horesta, the hospitality industry association. The number of complaints about behavior in private homes – noise, violence and other problems – rose 42 percent during the strict lockdown period.

Model coronavirus citizens

To the surprise of both social workers and healthcare researchers, very few homeless people in Denmark have become infected (DK) with the coronavirus. Along with Aarhus Municipality and Aarhus University Hospital, Kirkens Korshær, an organization similar to the Salvation Army, tested 400 drug abusers, homeless people and other vulnerable persons and did not find a single infection in the municipality.

The situation is similar in Copenhagen, says Kim Allan Jensen of an interest organization for the homeless, because they have taken the hygiene guidelines seriously. Previously, “you could see 50 people standing together drinking beer. . . . Now you see five here and five over there. You could say it’s a new drinking culture.” The only explanation for it is social distancing, says virologist Søren Riis Paludan.

Coronavirus DK: Real soccer fans stick together

Just because the coronavirus has been brought under control in Denmark, that doesn’t mean that Danes are supernaturally conscientious and disciplined about maintaining social distancing and following other healthcare recommendations. When given a chance, they can also go amuck (DK). That’s what happened during the Danish Cup Final, the culmination of the soccer season. When the Premier League resumed play on May 28, only 500 fans were allowed to attend matches and they had to abide by social distancing provisions. Since the first matches went well, the limit was raised. The Minister of Justice decided that up to 750 tickets could be allotted for each team’s fans at a match between Aalborg (AaB) and SonderjyskE in Esbjerg last week.

Showing their team some enthusiasm

About a half hour after the match began, Aalborg fans left their assigned seats and crowded together (DK). They sang, waved flags and launched flares as they used to do in the good old days. After they ignored several announcements over the loudspeakers directing them back to their seats, the referee stopped play. Stadium security guards tried to escort them back to their proper places. AaB’s assistant coaches ran over and tried to persuade them to cooperate. But 44 fans were unruly and were ejected from the stadium and arrested. They were put on a bus and driven home to Aalborg, accompanied by the police.

Aalborg fans in Esbjerg. Photo: Claus Fisker/Ritzau Scanpix

Can soccer fans behave?

The incident was disappointing for officials who had worked to get spectators back in the stands. The number of tickets allotted depends on the size of the stadium, and up to 10,000 would be allowed into Parken, the largest stadium, in Copenhagen. They must now evaluate the policy.

“It was chaotic. That’s the most appropriate word I can think of,” says Christian Rothman, the chair of the Danish Soccer Fans association. “We must be honest so that we can try to understand how it escalated like that.” Rothman, a diehard AaB fan himself, attended the match and watched events unfold. A set of fans belonging to an unoffical group called “Auxilia” decided that if they couldn’t watch the match on their own terms, they wouldn’t stay, and that is when the police intervened.

Competing stories

The next day, Auxilia had its own interpretation (DK) of the incident: When its members left the stadium peacefully in order to allow the match to resume, they were met by a very aggressive police force that used violent measures against them. A video that went viral shows a cop hitting one fan with a baton after he was already lying on the ground.

The explanation from the Southern Jutland police (DK) was of course somewhat different. It describes the unruly fans trying to break doors and windows on their way out of the stadium. The police pacified them and set them on the ground in a long row. It seemed a little strange to a virologist, Søren Riis Paludan of Aarhus University, that they should be ejected from the stadium for standing too close together and then placed so close together again by the police afterward. But if they were all facing in the same direction, it wasn’t so bad, he said.

The fans asked to sit like that themselves, said the police. “They said it was a strain to sit without leaning up against each other. Since the same fans had sat on the bus from Aalborg together, stood together, walked together and had been at a bar together, they were allowed to stay where they were sitting.”

The match was stopped for 15 minutes with the score 0-0. When it resumed, SonderjyskE scored and went on to post its first win in the Final, 2-0. The spectator attendance experiment ended 1-0 to Alcohol over Social Distancing.

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.”