Coronablog on the Periphery | Kirsten Marie Raahauge

CORONABLOG ON THE PERIPHERY I:

OPENING UP DENMARK IN DIFFERENT PACES, STARTING WITH THE PERIPHERY?

In the Danish news, one of the headlines the 27th of April was about opening up areas in the periphery before opening up the urban areas. Maybe it could be a possibility to open different areas up in different pace, letting the periphery start, since there is no corona in many of the peripheral areas. Maybe it would be a really bad idea.

This discussion high lights some of the important issues concerning the relationship between the center and the periphery, and between the welfare state and its citizens. On the one hand, the risk of infection is evidently higher when opening up for cafes and restaurant, thereby possibly attracting people from other places that are still closed down, on the other hand, there is a possibility to boost work places and life in the provinces, if you can open op before the larger urban areas. As job possibilities and life in the cities have become major concerns for citizens in the periphery, here is a fantastic chance to get some of this back.

One of the points made by the Tønder mayor is that people live with higher density in larger urban areas, causing these areas to become subject to a heightened risk of contamination than areas in the countryside. What is now a matter of risk due to density, has until now been the problem of the provinces, namely that citizens leave the provinces in order to live in the larger urban areas, thus turning the provinces into periphery. So, a disadvantage has now become an advantage.

The municipalities that have not had infected citizens for the last week are almost all of them situated outside the H-city (the larger urban areas that are situated along the motor way system of Denmark, forming an H: Esbjerg to the west to Copenhagen to the east, Aalborg to the north to Padborg to the south (Carbone & Pedersen 2003)). In other words, the areas that are not densely populated, and the area that have become peripherized are the ones that do not suffer from the corona epidemic in Denmark.

Background history

27.4.2020 Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten writes about the fact that mayors all over the country are discussing whether Denmark should open up in various paces. They do not agree about this.

Several Danish municipalities that have no new corona infected citizens wish to be able to reopen parts of society in these areas faster than in other areas of the country. Other municipalities think that the reopening of Denmark should happen in an even pace.

Among others, Tønders’ mayor, Henrik Frandsen (V) would like to open Tønder municipality at a faster pace. In Tønder municipality, as in 17 other Danish municipalities, no corona infected patients have been registered in the last seven days. “there is a huge difference concerning how corona has attacked Denmark. In Tønder, for example, we have not had a single case of infected citizens for the last seven days. Therefore, I think it makes sense for some areas to open up faster than others”, the mayor says. Furthermore, he suggests that restaurants can be allowed to open in a way that ensures distance between the guests. Also, he suggests that the border between Denmark and Germany (situated 4 kilometers from the city of Tønder) is opened for German tourists, who can show a certificate of having leased a summer cottage. This would be of great help to the severely affected tourist industry in the area, the mayor points out.

According to Jyllands-Posten, these 17 municipalities have not had cases of corona-infected patients for the last seven days, registered by Statens Seruminstitut the 26th of April 2020. Both the list and the map are found on the webpage of Jyllands-Posten 27.4.2020

Jutland

·         Tønder

·         Haderslev

·         Vejen

·         Fanø

·         Hedensted

·         Samsø

·         Favrskov

·         Vesthimmerland

·         Frederikshavn

·         Hjørring

·         Læsø

Funen

·         Assens

·         Faaborg-Midtfyn

·         Nyborg

·         Ærø

Zealand and the islands

·         Solrød

·         Ringsted

Kilde: Statens Serum Institut

Map over the spread of corona infected in Denmark 26.4.2020.