Fact check with a difference: While politicians in this country can only hear a constant catastrophizing of the Corona situation, in Denmark one has not lost touch with reality. The Danish health authority “Statens Serum Institut” goes against “typical misinformation regarding Danish Covid numbers‘ – to the effect that it is stated: No, Covid-19 is no longer a critical threat to society.
The page reads in English:
There is a lot of misinformation, misinterpretation and misunderstanding surrounding the Danish COVID-19 numbers, and both Danish speakers and non-Danish speakers share these elements of the misinformation on social media and the media in general. Below we have collected and answered some of the most typical misconceptions and misinformation that we have encountered multiple times over the last few weeks. In short, none of the misinformation is correct.
The following claims are listed as false information:
- Extremely many people are in the hospital because of Covid-19
- Hospitalization rates for babies and children due to Covid-19 are extremely high
- Children get seriously ill because of Covid-19
- The declining numbers in intensive care units are misleading
- Denmark has decided that Covid-19 no longer exists
- Denmark no longer recognizes Covid-19 as a threat to society because people who become seriously ill are considered unimportant
In principle, all of these claims could have come from Panic Minister Karl Lauterbach. The Danish authority uses current figures to show that the proportion of hospitalized Covid patients has decreased significantly in recent months and also points out that significantly fewer of the patients who tested positive in the clinics have to be treated for Covid-19 at all. According to the institute, the hospitalization rates for babies and young children are actually low; usually, children who are admitted to the emergency department with respiratory symptoms are sent home within a short period of time. It should be noted that Covid-19 is generally very mild in children.
The allegations that Denmark would manipulate its Covid numbers in the intensive care units by changing criteria or shifting cases to care facilities are sharply rejected. Likewise, one defends against the claim that Covid-19 has recently been denied and seriously ill people are simply ignored:
COVID-19 absolutely exists, but it is no longer considered “a societal infection.” This is because the Omicron variant results in a milder disease than previous variants and a very high proportion of the Danish population has been vaccinated against COVID-19, which largely protects against serious disease.
Incidentally, the difference between the Danish and German vaccination rates is small – while in Denmark according to the vaccination dashboard, 80.9% of the population are twice vaccinated, it is in Germany “at least” 74.9%. When it comes to booster shots, the Danes have a share of 61.5% and the Germans “at least” 55.7%. Since Germany feels unable to record the actual vaccination rate, the difference could be minimal to non-existent. Nevertheless, on the Website of RKI complained about a “relevant part of the population” who “does not yet have sufficient immune protection against the virus” and therefore make further measures necessary. Meanwhile, Denmark is planning to stop the Covid vaccination campaign and will refrain from further boosters.
