Sweden's Controversial COVID-19 Plan Begin To Show Result

[RAMROD 117,121]

Sweden’s unusual approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic is starting to yield results, according to the country’s top epidemiologist.

Anders Tegnell, the architect behind Sweden’s relatively relaxed response to Covid-19, told local media the latest figures on infection rates and fatalities indicate the situation is starting to stabilize.

“We’re on a sort of plateau,” Tegnell told Swedish news agency TT.

Sweden has left its schools, gyms, cafes, bars and restaurants open throughout the spread of the pandemic. Instead, the government has urged citizens to act responsibly and follow social distancing guidelines.

For Sweden, a total lockdown was unsustainable in the long term. If schools and pre-schools were closed, for instance, parents would have to leave work to home-school. This would potentially make matters worse by removing workers in critical sectors such as healthcare, or exposing grandparents to the disease, not to mention depriving children of crucial time in school.

In a society where gender equality and children’s rights are paramount, these risks understandably touched a raw nerve. Lockdown might work for the middle and upper classes with comfortable houses, especially in societies with more traditional gender norms. In Sweden, schools are key institutions not least for disadvantaged children, and single and/or low-earning parents

The spread of Covid-19 across the globe is triggering different responses across national and even state borders, as authorities struggle to contain an outbreak about which much remains unknown.

As of Sunday, Sweden had reported 1,540 deaths tied to Covid-19, an increase of 29 from Saturday. That’s considerably more than in the rest of Scandinavia, but much less than in Italy, Spain and the U.K., both in absolute and relative terms.

Tegnell isn’t the only high-level official in Sweden to claim the country may be over the worst.

Just two weeks ago, the picture was considerably bleaker, and Prime Minister Stefan Lofven suggested the government may need to review its approach amid the prospect of thousands of Swedish deaths. In particular, the failure to protect people in nursing homes has stood out as a clear weakness, which has contributed to higher death rates than in neighboring countries.

“The protection for people in elderly care should have been better,” Lofven said last week. “We need to look closer at what has gone wrong.”

Yet overall, Lofven’s strategy has won the approval of Swedes, and his personal popularity has soared.

Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy may ultimately result in a smaller -- albeit historically deep -- economic contraction than the rest of Europe is now facing, according to HSBC Global Research economist James Pomeroy.

“While Sweden’s unwillingness to lock down the country could ultimately prove to be ill-judged, for now, if the infection curve flattens out soon, the economy could be better placed to rebound,” he said.

Pomeroy pointed to some Swedish characteristics that may be helping the country deal with the current crisis. More than half of Swedish households are single-person, making social distancing easier to carry out. More people work from home than anywhere else in Europe, and everyone has access to fast Internet, which helps large chunks of the workforce stay productive away from the office.

And while many other countries have introduced strict laws, including hefty fines if people are caught breaching newly minted social-distancing laws, Swedes appear to be following such guidelines without the need for legislation.

 

full article at SOURCES:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-19/sweden-says-controversial-covid-19-strategy-is-proving-effective

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2020/apr/21/sweden-covid-19-policy-trust-citizens-state

 

 

Well, as this is very controversial move, I understand there will be a lot of strong divisive opinion from the outside. 

I am interested in hearing those, both from Swedes  members and the rest of us who lives abroad. Try to keep it cute. 

So, what do you think of this? And would you want your government to also applying this strategy?

[Florian 20,017]

Let's say that not every nation is as disciplined as Sweden. I don't see this working in the UK or the US (or even in my country France), people are too stubborn 

[Morphine Prince 109,683]

Different strategies will work for different regions of the world. I'm glad their situation isn't that bad, but I don't think Sweden should be praised for their response. They decided to potentially sacrifice many lives to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic. New Zealand on the other hand has basically eradicated the virus from their country with tougher restrictions. 

It's also funny that you mostly see conservatives praising Sweden, when before this they would all say Sweden is destroying their society with migrants, etc.  

If you want to compare Sweden with neighboring countries: 

Sweden: Cases, 18,926, Deaths, 2,274

Finland: Cases, 4,695, Deaths, 193

Norway: Cases, 7,554, Deaths, 205

Denmark: Cases, 8,698, Deaths, 427

 

[Fatigay 21,211]

Each country has its approach because each country has its realities. Sweden doesn't have big, dense cities like others in Europe or in North America. There are 2.3M people in Stockholm's metropolitan area, while Baltimore has 2.8M. And we can all agree that Baltimore is far from the biggest city in the US. Montreal, where I live, has a population of 4.6M in the metropolitan area. 

To have people in North America saying "Why don't we do like Sweden" is tone-deaf and ignorant. I hope Sweden, in the long run, will have made the right decision, as much as I hope Canada/Quebec has done so as well. (Sorry USA, your country is f*cked)

[lasagna 3,415]

i just cant see how it won't backfire long term. china and new zealand have come out the far side of covid-19 due to a lockdown and strict rules in place. that's how countries are successfully dealing with it. sweden also isn't testing half as many people as it should be, so the number of cases just cant be accurate. their government put the economy ahead of the welfare of their citizens, and that should not be praised.

i hope for swedens sake it works for them, but i don't think it will.

[RainOnMeYup 813]

How is it "starting to pay off"? Just two days ago, the number of daily cases reached a new peak.

[Morphine Prince 109,683]

Also, for all of the Americans thinking this would work here, I have news for you: 

The people in the US will NEVER be as disciplined as the Swedish population. We literally have people here who are PROUD to be ignorant and they are everywhere. We have people protesting and gathering in large groups. This would absolutely NOT have worked here. And people in large cities like NYC would not be able to manage it either. 

[ice bear 1]

But Sweden is Sweden try putting this in practice in Brazil

people would flock to beaches and parties

[BUtterfield 8 41,818]

Yeah because ppl in that country are probably listening 

unlike in the USA or UK we have a bunch of Ignorance p

[FlopSlurper 34,336]

thousands of deaths and it's JUST starting to "work"?

I pretend I do not see it

[ShesAMess 1,560]

I really hope it works out for them but I live in the neighbor and if we lost thousands of people for ”nothing” I would be so sad and disappointed 

[Guest]

Sweden is disciplined

[Bt1 5,213]

Wow. Imagine. Lockdowns werent necessary. WHO told us last year that they dont work.  sweden approached this with one strategy : they made decisions only based on scientific evidence. 

I cant believe that people are bringing New Zealand into this discussion. Look where is on the map. 

 

 

[OBEY 57,109]

Maybe they did that in the end....

[Runway 27,876]

Only took 2k deaths