Danish Health Authority’s new recommendations: Here’s how you should celebrate New Year’s Eve

You can still celebrate New Year’s Eve this year – with some restrictions though.  You can only be with people you already see in your everyday life and a maximum of 10.

This is the message from the Danish Health Authority who recently released their recommendations for New Year’s Eve celebrations.

To have the best chance of a good start to 2021, like most events in 2020, we have to remember the infection prevention measures.

In informal social settings, it can often be difficult to comply with requirements and recommendations on distance and hygiene. At the same time, the risk of infection increases when we gather, and when we see many different people.

“In our New Year’s advice, we recommend that you cancel all social activities and interactions with people you do not usually see or hold them virtually – also on New Year’s Eve.

This also involves limiting the end of year celebration to your own household and the few people you usually see. That way, you can best protect both yourself and others,” Helene Bilsted Probst, Vice Director of the Danish Health Authority, says.

No more than 10 people

The recommendation is that you gather as few people as possible and no more than 10 for New Year’s Eve. Those 10 people include yourself and your household, no matter how big your home or premises is. It must also be possible to keep the recommended distance, even as the evening progresses.

Even when the New Year bells ring and when you would traditionally go outside to light fireworks, the advice is still to stick to your own New Year’s party all evening.

You can wish the neighbors a Happy New Year – but it must be done at a distance – greet them, for example, over the hedge, from the balcony, or over the phone.

“Some have joint fireworks events or shows where a number of people from the neighborhood gather together. That should not be done this year. You must stay in the smaller group that you celebrate New Year’s Eve with,” Helene Bilsted Probst, Vice Director of the Danish Health Authority, says.

The Danish Health Authority hopes that everyone has a good and safe New Year’s Eve, despite the restrictions that the epidemic demands.

Read the Danish Health Authority’s recommendations for New Year’s Eve celebrations here.