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Danish retailers encouraged to extend deadline on exchanging items

Luke Roberts
November 12th, 2020


This article is more than 4 years old.

Shops and shoppers alike have been given advice on how to keep coronavirus infections down this festive period

Maybe Mormor could stop shopping during the afternoon rush hour, suggests the ministry (photo: Kristoffer Trolle)

In a bid to avoid an increase in coronavirus infections, the government has encouraged shops to, among other things, extend their opening hours and give people more time to exchange unwanted items.

The call was made on the Erhvervsministeriet website in the run-up to Black Friday and Christmas.  Heavy retail footfall on these large trading days have raised concerns surrounding further spread of the virus.

Critical phase
In a year that has been difficult for many retailers, they will hope the coming months provide a welcome boost in sales. However, the trade and industry minister, Simon Kollerup, insists that they must remain vigilant.

“The coming months are incredibly important for many in the retail trade, because these are some of the days when the most shopping takes place. But it must be done in a responsible way, because we are in a situation right now when the infection rates are rising,” he said.

Everyone must play their part
It is not only shops that have been asked to consider their actions in the coming months – shoppers also have a role to play in keeping infection rates down.

They are encouraged to make use of shops’ full opening hours: shopping on less busy days and at less busy times.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”