Re-Opening the Economy in Denmark

"I won't be sending my children off no matter what."
"I think a lot of parents are thinking, 'Why should my little child go outside first'/"
Sandra Andersen, founder, My kid is not going to be a Guinea Pig, Facebook

"I don't think it's right for the kids not to hug their friends."
"We keep the kids home, because the situation in the day cares before the COVID-19 outbreak were not OK, and the conditions they are setting up now are even worse."
Nonne Behrsin Hansen, Copenhagen, Denmark

"Suddenly, these moms feel like they just have to throw their kids to the front line and I think their reaction is: 'Don't mess with our kids."
Esme Emma Suteu, founder, Momster

"We're all a bit nervous and we'll have to ensure that we stick to hygiene rules."
"We have a lot of washing hands during the day. We don't have masks and we have to keep a good distance from each other so that's a very difficult task."
Elisa Rimpler, Danish Union of Early Childhood and Youth Educators

The Danish prime minister welcomed children on their return to school in Valby on Wednesday     Reuters  

One of the first countries in Europe to decide to close down its schools in reaction to the influx of novel coronavirus cases, Denmark with its population of just under 6 million now feels the time is right to re-open them for children up to the fifth grade to "get the economy going again", according to Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. To free up parents by allowing the children to return to school, so their parents can return to the workforce to rescue a faltering Danish economy.

Instructions have gone out to teaching staff to ensure that social distances are maintained between children. Among the population there are many who are less than pleased, even while others express confidence in the move. An online network of thousands of Danish mothers signed onto Momster have little confidence that Danish authorities have matters relating to the novel coronavirus under control.

Concerns that newly reopened schools and daycare centres may serve to open a new front of COVID transmission leading to a second wave of cases has moved thousands of Danish parents to express their foreboding by keeping their children at home, despite the official re-openings. Denmark has not seen the kind of flood of coronavirus cases seen elsewhere in Europe, like Italy or Spain, France or Britain, but the decision has brought a heated debate over priorities; health safety or the economy.

Children distancing at Korshøjskolen in Randers . Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix

Up to Tuesday the virus had infected over 6,600 Danes and resulted in close to 300 deaths. Shops were ordered closed, along with bars, restaurants, cinemas and gyms.

It was when the Danish health authority recommended an easing up after the lockdown of a month's duration had succeeded in reducing the rate of new cases, to relax the lockdown by opening up schools to children up to age eleven.

At the department of infectious diseases, Aarhus University, scientist Christian Wejse acknowledged parents' concerns "because we've spend a month trying to avoid contact". But he stated that the age group of children in question fall into a category "where few fall ill, and those who do won't get very sick". He points to Sweden as an example, where schools have remained open and no dramatic rise in infections has arisen. Children, he assured the skeptical, seem not to be a major driver of infections.

"I feel great, really good about the kids going back to school."
"I think we're all going to be sick at one point and they told us the children are going to be less sick and affected by this virus."
"I think it's good that they're going back to school... We need to go back to daily life."
Caroline, 38, mother of two, Copenhagen

Schools in Denmark were closed on March 17 in an effort to curb the COVID-19 epidemic, though many had shut before then. (AFP)