Denmark: No Masks, No Distancing & Defeating COVID19
Every seat in Jens Rodgaard’s Grade 5 class is full — there is no physical distance at all. When a student raises their hand with a question, Rodgaard is by their side in an instant and leans in to help.
“You have to be around them and help them, help them with spelling, help them make choices, and for proper teaching we can’t do that with the distance,” Rodgaard said.
Students must sanitize their hands every time they enter the school and the grades aren’t supposed to mingle with each other. But there isn’t a mask in sight.
This is what Phase 2 of school reopening looked like at Ålholm public school in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week, a month into the second semester.
“Right now we are trying to make things as normal as possible, [to] not scare any kids,” said Rodgaard, who has taught at Ålholm for 28 years.
WATCH | How Denmark sent kids back to school during the pandemic:
The school’s goal is to make the experience of education as normal as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other schools have more rules in place. At this stage, Denmark is allowing each school to come up with its own COVID-19 safety plans.
Right now, the country’s strategy of containing the coronavirus seems to be working. Countries around the world, including Canada, have looked at the Danish model in designing their own school plans.
Hygiene standard was ‘first priority’
Denmark wasn’t hit by COVID as badly as other countries in Europe, like Italy and Spain, but it nonetheless went into lockdown in March. When the government started removing restrictions, it prioritized opening schools over bars and restaurants. The rules were strict at the time amid concerns there would be outbreaks.
“Our first priority was to ensure that the hygiene standard was good,” said Ålholm headmaster Soren Vith, who said the school followed all the government-mandated protocols back in Phase 1 of reopening.
Extra teachers were hired so classes could be divided into three groups, breaks were staggered, each class was assigned to specific toilets and, when possible, learning was done outside.
Student Saida Sey, 12, said she was happy they opened schools again in April because lockdown was a bore. “It’s really fun to have your friends again and talk to them and play soccer.”
But she admitted when school started up, the virus loomed large. “It was really hard; you can’t stop thinking about it.”
Her classmate Jeppe Rank Gjerulff also recalled being nervous: “I was a little bit scared because nobody knew what it was — what will happen if you get sick?”
Co-operation between government and teachers
Vith said the tough restrictions worked: No one at his school tested positive for COVID-19 in the spring. A few schools in the country experienced outbreaks, but there was no spike in overall infections attributed to the reopening.
That’s why the government felt safe moving to Phase 2 of its plan when the second semester of school started in August.
“Very much is up to the schools to see what’s the best way forward for us with our kids,” said Dorte Lange, vice-president of the Danish Union of Teachers.
She credits the success in Denmark to the co-operation between the government and the teachers’ union, and said they were in constant communication and addressed staff concerns early on.
Lange said the teachers’ confidence rubbed off. “Parents met the teachers, who felt safe about this. Telling them that we can cope with this situation also made parents feel safe, and that’s quite important.”
Read the full story at www-cbc-ca.cdn.ampproject.org
PSI Editor’s note: Not mentioned in the article is the important fact that the Danish government permits doctors to use hydroxychloroquine for COVID patients, as stated here:
“In principle, Danish hospital doctors are also allowed to use hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients even if they are not enrolled in research projects.” laegemiddelstyrelsen.dk
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