Denmark coronavirus response under Mette Frederiksen seems to be working

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Lilly Ledbetter endorses Joe Biden, Idaho prevents transgender girls from playing girls’ sports, and we hear from a female(!) head of government about the coronavirus. Have a nice Wednesday.

– ‘The Danish way.’ The make-up of world leadership these days means that most of the voices we hear on the coronavirus crisis are men’s. Surely, you’ve heard plenty from President Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to name a few. There are, of course, a dozen or so women leading nations through this unprecedented moment in history. And one of them says her nation’s approach appears to be effective.

“The Danish way of doing things is working,” Mette Frederiksen, the 42-year-old who became Denmark’s prime minister last June, said on Monday.

Denmark was one of the first countries to take action against the outbreak, closing schools, limiting social gatherings, and—in mid-March—shutting its borders entirely. Denmark is also guaranteeing 90% of workers’ salaries to prevent mass layoffs. It has just over 3,000 coronavirus cases, with 90 deaths.

It’s in no way out of the woods, but the measures have significantly reduced how many people are infected via each COVID-19-positive patient, experts say.

Frederiksen says citizens’ “joint efforts” deserve credit. In fact, Danes are adhering to the social restrictions so well and emergency calls have dropped off so dramatically that doctors had to urge people suffering from non-coronavirus ailments to continue to seek treatment.

Frederiksen now says Denmark might start to ease back into normal life after Easter, though she warned vulnerable populations—seniors, especially—that they may be subject to the measures longer than others. “We are asking the weakest to be the strongest right now,” she said. “And that is a tough request.”

Even with Frederiksen’s cautious optimism, her country’s progress on the matter represents a bright spot.

Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman

Today’s Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe.

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