Denmark: Parents hopeful as schools reopen after one-month coronavirus lockdown

W/S Pupils and parents walk to Norrebro Park secondary school, Copenhagen
c/U Norrebro Park secondary school sign
W/S Children and parents outside Norrebro Park secondary school
W/S Parents walking their children to school
M/S Mother dropping little girl to school
SOT, Sol Hallset, Artist: "I feel good, I trust the government, I trust the school, I trust the people around us, so I think it's going to be fine. The kids need to get out."
M/S Mother dropping little girl at school *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Sol Hallset, Artist: "It was very hard, at the same time it was very very nice to have so much time with family. But it was hard work."
W/S Parents dropping children at school
M/S Father walking boy to school
M/S Mother dropping girl to school
SOT, Poul-Erik Madsen, Film director: "I think we've had a pretty safe lockdown until now and I think the curves have been broken so I feel very safe about opening up."
M/S School staffer welcoming pupils with Danish flag *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Poul-Erik Madsen, Film director: "Actually I think it's been really good. We've been closer as a family for the last couple of weeks, of course we got stressed also, after playing the same board games again and again, but we've actually got some good habits worked in. We played a lot more basketball, ping-pong and stuff like that that we did before, so actually I think in the end maybe it's for the better."
W/S School staffers welcoming pupils with Danish flags *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Kristina Skafte Thomsen, Teambuilder: "It's not necessarily safe to open up but we're doing it so slowly, so I have confidence in the government handling it in a safe way."
W/S Father and little boy arrive at school by bicycle *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Kristina Skafte Thomsen, Teambuilder: "It has been hard and we were not able to educate the children from home as we wanted to and maybe at some level were expected to. Because we had too much to do at work ourselves."
W/S Woman walks little boy to daycare centre of Krausesvej *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Brian Hansen, CEO: "It was very hard to stay with children twenty-four seven and with your wife as well. But we found a way out. Normally in the morning I (would) go out to the playground for three or four hours and then I shifted with my wife, so she could go out afterwards and then we tried to work a little and study a little in between."
W/S Father with little boy enters daycare centre, Copenhagen
SCRIPT
Children were allowed to return to school in Copenhagen on Wednesday, after a month-long closure amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Parents were seen dropping children at schools and daycare centres in the Danish capital, where kindergartens, nurseries and primary schools were all shut down on March 12 in an effort to tackle coronavirus.
"I trust the government, I trust the school, I trust the people around us, so I think it's going to be fine. The kids need to get out," said a mother.
Despite appreciating the time spent with their children, many parents admitted it's been a challenging time.
"Normally in the morning I (would) go out to the playground for three or four hours and then I shifted with my wife, so she could go out afterwards and then we tried to work a little and study a little in between," said a father.
Denmark is the first county in Europe to reopen schools, but classes are only being resumed in half of the country and nearly 35 per cent of the capital's schools, with the rest expected to open by April 20.
According to Johns Hopkins University's last figures, as of Wednesday Denmark recorded 6,706 confirmed cases and 299 deaths from COVID-19.