{"id":46365,"date":"2021-09-17T12:23:14","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T12:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=46365"},"modified":"2021-09-17T12:23:14","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T12:23:14","slug":"denmark-returns-to-pre-pandemic-life-with-a-huge-pop-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=46365","title":{"rendered":"Denmark returns to pre-pandemic life with a huge pop concert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Copenhagen, Denmark \u2013<\/strong> While many in Europe fretted over the Delta variant, university student and care worker Sofie Mari Jensen joined tens of thousands of people at Copenhagen\u2019s Parken Stadium to watch the pop-rock band The Minds of 99.<\/p>\n

The event on September 11, a day after Denmark dropped all coronavirus restrictions, was Europe\u2019s first concert hosting more than 50,000 people since the pandemic began.<\/p>\n

Social distancing was not required, nor masks, nor certificates proving vaccination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was packed with people, and it was euphoric,\u201d Jensen told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

COVID is no longer considered a \u201csocially critical disease\u201d in Denmark and now, the small European country \u2013 home to about six million people \u2013 will live with the virus as if it were the flu.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredibly awesome, I mean, I barely had time to watch the scene, I was too busy having a massive party with my friends, singing along to all the songs,\u201d Jensen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so much more than just a concert, it was a big fat line under the fact, that corona is gone,\u201d she continued, adding with a laugh, \u201cat least for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

People sit at Kaffesalonen (The Coffee Saloon) as COVID-19 restrictions ease, in central Copenhagen, Denmark [File: Tim Barsoe\/Reuters]<\/figure>\n

The streets of Copenhagen are buzzing as people release their pent-up desires for being outside, in different ways.<\/p>\n

In one caf\u00e9, three elderly ladies poke fun at the hipsters working as they ask for a seat next to their sticker clad laptops.<\/p>\n

In a bar late at night, the atmosphere is jovial. Three men realise they all share the same name and cheer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives us some freedom \u2013 being able to go out and be social with your friends without a deadline where the fun ends. It\u2019s just the feeling of freedom and opportunity,\u201d Jensen said.<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s newfound sense of liberty was founded on its successful vaccination campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety-six percent of people over 50 are fully vaccinated,\u201d said Lone Simonsen, professor of epidemiology and head of the PandemiX centre at Roskilde University. \u201cThat means we\u2019ve protected those at highest risk of hospitalisation or death, and because of that we can afford having the pandemic running its course, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danes tend to trust health authorities and have been willing to get jabbed, even those who were slightly hesitant of vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who were initially sceptical have seen the data, heard the experts and politicians and accepted. Only five percent of the population are adamantly against the vaccine, while the rest trusts that it\u2019s the best solution, really the only solution, that we have,\u201d Simonsen said.<\/p>\n

When Denmark stopped using AstraZeneca entirely after reports of rare but deadly side effects linked to the vaccine, \u201cthat helped people feel confident about the safety of the vaccines in the national programmes\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

Almost all people above 50 have been fully vaccinated in Denmark [File: Ritzau Scanpix\/Philip Davali via Reuters]<\/figure>\n

As of September 15, Danish health authorities had recorded 353,451 cases and 2,617 coronavirus deaths.<\/p>\n

While vaccines are effective in protecting people against severe disease that may require hospitalisation, and death, they cannot stop the infection.<\/p>\n

The more contagious Delta variant, for instance, has broken through the vaccines in several countries.<\/p>\n

People might still get sick, Simonsen said, but in most cases, illness will be milder with fewer hospitalisations and deaths.<\/p>\n

But as many are step back into their pre-pandemic routines, some have reservations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Zoom classes are a long-term solution, but I wish people would think more about the way disease spreads. I am cautious with the people I sit with, in my study group we get tested regularly because we all have people in our \u2018bubble\u2019 we shouldn\u2019t infect,\u201d said Nadja Nielsen, a university student.<\/p>\n

Her father-in-law has cancer and has been hospitalised in intensive care multiple times, and her mother and brother are also at risk.<\/p>\n

Nielsen is worried that she could yet infect them, despite being vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are plenty of people at my university who cough and sniffle, showing small symptoms. We\u2019re having a wave of influenza right now and already a lot of people have been hit. There\u2019s no control if you\u2019re sick, we saw that with Danes coming home from international holidays knowingly being infected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Should another coronavirus wave gather pace, Denmark is ready to return to restrictions, Simonsen said, especially if so-called \u201cescape mutations\u201d drive a resurgence.<\/p>\n

But for now, Danes can go to bars, football games and concerts.<\/p>\n

Looking back at the photos she took at the concert, which drew 52,000 people, Jensen found an image of the dirty floor after the party, cups and other remnants of the celebrations littered across liberally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of funny the day after, drunken me thought it was a good picture. There was trash everywhere, it looked so crazy, but I think I realised just how many people we were. It just became so real when you see the stuff we left behind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Copenhagen, Denmark \u2013 While many in Europe fretted over the Delta variant, university student and care worker Sofie Mari Jensen joined tens of thousands of people at Copenhagen\u2019s Parken Stadium to watch the pop-rock band The Minds of 99. The event on September 11, a day after Denmark dropped all coronavirus restrictions, was Europe\u2019s first…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}