Denmark has changed the way it deals with COVID-19, announcing the virus no longer poses a ‘critical threat to society’. From 1 February, mandatory check-ins, compulsory isolations and any other regulated restrictions were removed. This is Denmark's new, new normal.
“Tonight, we can start lowering our shoulders, and start finding the right [to] smile, again. For tonight - and today - is a milestone,” said Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a press conference announcing the changes.
“We are ready to step out of the shadow of the coronavirus. We say goodbye to the restrictions, and welcome to the life we knew before coronavirus”.
In the Danish university city of Aarhus, people are out and their masks are off.
Outside a pub, Johan says, “I’ve set my mind to, like, 'we're free, we're done'… And that's kind of dumb, but you know, that's how I wanna live my life right now.”
Johan and Johanna outside a pub in Denmark. Source: The Feed
But while Denmark is farewelling restrictions, they certainly haven’t kissed the pandemic goodbye. In fact, in the week leading up to Denmark’s announcement that they were ending COVID-19 restrictions, cases were higher than at any other point in the nation’s pandemic response - on 25 January there were 46,590 new cases.
“So the question is why? Why does that make sense?” asks Michael Bang Petersen, who is a Professor of Political Science at Aarhus University and a key adviser to the Danish government on its reopening plans.
According to Professor Petersen, there are a few reasons why Denmark is able to move forward with its plan. Firstly the nation’s high vaccination rate: with 81 per cent of Danes having had two doses and over 61 per cent having had three. And secondly the lesser severity of Omicron compared to other variants.
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases Source: The Feed, Our World in Data
“You can only have restrictions if there is a threat towards the critical functions of society,” says Professor Petersen. “And if, if you cannot justify that, that means that you need to remove all restrictions.”
Since the start of the pandemic, Professor Petersen has been tracking public sentiment, and he says the majority of Danes are in favour of lifting restrictions.
“What we can see in our research is that lockdowns, especially in a situation where the epidemic is not so severe, create a sense of fatigue,” he says.
And when that fatigue is not addressed it can lead to a lack of trust in authorities, public protest and conspiracy theories.
“So communication is really key for upholding trust. And in general, we can see in our data that Danes feel that they have received transparent and clear communication."
But for the rest of the world watching on, the question remains: what might be the price of having no restrictions at all?
At a World Health Organisation briefing in early February, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus cautioned countries against moving too quickly.
"We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that … preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary,” he said.
“Nothing would be further from the truth. More transmission means more deaths … it's premature for any country either to surrender or to declare victory."
A record number of COVID-19 positive people were hospitalised in the weeks following the reopening, more than doubling the rate of admissions during the country’s previous peak. And the nation’s COVID-19 death rate has also risen, reaching over 730 deaths per million, cumulatively. To put that in perspective, Australia’s cumulative per capita death rate is closer to 190 per million.
According to Professor Lars Østergaard, head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital, the hospital system has been under pressure, predominantly due to a staff shortage due to either health workers contracting COVID-19 themselves, or having to look after sick family members at home.
“In certain areas of Denmark, they have actually been so short of staff that they put them in full protective equipment, the infected … personnel,” says Professor Østergaard. “And then, let them work with the … patients.”
But there is some good news. Professor Østergaard says sewage testing shows transmission is actually beginning to drop in some areas of Denmark. And ICU numbers have been improving too.
“We actually discharged our last patient in intensive care, which actually …was a Delta variant. So we haven't had any Omicron in our area at the ICU,” says Professor Østergaard.
“We have a completely different disease basically.”
Around the world, countries are slowly following in Denmark’s footsteps, with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing that Britain will start allowing COVID-19 positive people to move around freely on public transport, in workplaces and in shops.
But according to Professor Petersen, it will take some work from governments to explain their shift away from restrictions.
“It's clear that after two years of being in a pandemic… people have built up a lot of fear, a lot of concern and that makes it difficult to sort of move out of a crisis,” says Professor Petersen.
“Therefore leadership is actually just as important in this phase of the pandemic as it was in the initial phase of the pandemic.”
According to Professor Petersen, Denmark is not declaring the pandemic is over - and if a new variant were to emerge that threatened the hospital system - then restrictions would be reconsidered.
But in the meantime, Danes are enjoying the time they have and hoping for a COVID-free summer.
