But, then, Danes pay high levels of tax and expect their money to go to good use.
It amounts to an average of eight of each tests for every man, woman and child in the country, and a considerable expense to the Government. The numbers of PCR and antigen tests in Denmark are mind-boggling - more than 47 million of the former and 44 million of the latter have been taken.
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While Ireland’s politicians and senior health officials debate the pros and cons of antigen testing and to what extent they should be subsidised, in Denmark both antigen and PCR tests have long been available free of charge. Simonsen says in the early days of antigen testing, around the time that the vaccine rollout started to speed up, “one in 10 people were tested every day - and that really helped to keep numbers down”. Around the time that senior Nphet member Philip Nolan was dismissing antigen kits as “snake oil”, Danes were embracing them. “People will follow the advice from the government and the health officials and if they’re advised to wear masks again, for instance, they will do that.”Īntigen testing has been a key part of the Danish response for most of the year. “There’s a high level of trust in this country,” she says. She is puzzled by such sentiments in Ireland, when told of the mood here, and says Denmark’s approach from the outset has been cool, calm and measured. She says there is no talk about a nationwide lockdown, no discussion about whether Christmas can be “saved”. Half of hospitalisations are from the elderly and that’s because it was too long ago. We are rolling out third doses to the elderly. Hospitalisations are climbing up towards our pain level, but I am not alarmed yet. Deaths are very steady and at a low number. “What was very nice is that severe outcomes did not go up the same way. “And when you factor in the seasonal effect, rising numbers were to be expected. “There was no surprise that the numbers would go up once the country reopened and the schools and universities went back, she says. Lone Simonsen, professor of epidemiology and the director of the PandemiX centre at Roskilde University, is one of Denmark’s foremost experts on the Covid response. But life, largely, has returned to the way it was in the winter of 2019. From Monday, people will be asked to wear masks on public transport, in supermarkets and in hairdressers. Rising case numbers over the past few weeks led to the reintroduction of the Coronapas.
Denmark had far shorter lockdowns than Ireland and, in September, it reopened fully, becoming the first country in Europe to do so. It takes quite a bit of adjusting, but Copenhagen residents are used to it. In restaurants and cafés, there is a small, discreet notice advising people that they most show a ‘Coronapas’, proof of vaccination, if they wish to dine indoors. Some shops have a bottle of antibacterial gel at the door, which most customers seem to ignore.