New School Closures Announced

Two more kommunes ordered to close schools due to coronavirus infections

Late Monday night the Danish Agency for Patient Safety added two more municipalities to the current list of schools and SFOs that must remain closed due to high infection rates. Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed (STPS) ordered schools and SFOs closed in the Copenhagen suburbs of Rødovre and Albertslund kommunes. They join eight other kommunes where students will be staying home tomorrow. They are Brøndby, Fredensborg, Gladsaxe, Halsnæs, Helsingør, Høje -Taastrup, Ishøj, and Vallensbæk. 

The news caught the mayor of Albertslund, Steen Christiansen, by surprise. He had posted to Facebook earlier today that schools in his kommune would be open tomorrow. Christiansen, in an apologetic follow up post, said there should have been more advance notice for parents. 

“I regret that you as parents have received such short notice and correspondingly for teachers, educators and leaders as well. I hope that everyone works together to make the best of it and then once again full focus will be on getting the infection pressure down in the coming week.” 

Rødovre Borgmester Britt Jensen also took to Facebook. 

“Our incidence rate has today exceeded 200 per 100,000 inhabitants and therefore we have just now been notified by the health authorities that our schools, SFOs, construction playgrounds, and club facilities must be closed.” 

Schools and SFOs will remain closed in the impacted kommunes until at least April 11th.  

STPS has also ordered schools and SFOs to close in Brædstrup parish in Horsens on Jutland. 

It also extended the closure of Abildgårdskole, HC Andersen Skolen, Odense Privatskole, and Al-Salahiyah Skole in Odense. 

All schools and daycare centers remain closed in Kvaglund parish in Esbjerg. 

However, some school closure orders have been lifted. As of tomorrow, students will be allowed to return to schools in the following areas.

On Sjælland:

• Pederstrup parish in Ballerup

On Fyn: 

• Oure Continuation School in Svendborg 

In Jylland: 

• Bakkeskolen Cosmos, Præstegårdsskolen Urban, Esbjerg Gymnasium and all schools and day care institutions in Jerne and Grundtvig parishes. 

Hairdressers and others in ‘liberal professions’ can reopen across Denmark tomorrow except in kommunes with high infection rates. In the five Copenhagen suburbs of Ishøj, Brøndby, Halsnæs, Fredensborg, and Gladsaxe, hairdressers, tattoo parlours, etc. will remain closed.