Sweden: Chief Epidemiologist Defends Corona Strategy – “Timing is Crucial”

Stand: 11:33 am | Reading time: 4 minutes

WWhile the crown’s restrictions on containing the second wave of infections are currently tightening in Germany and several other European countries, Sweden continues to follow its much-discussed special approach to dealing with the pandemic. In the Scandinavian country there is still no mask requirement, there is no talk of measures such as a night curfew. The Swedish authorities have tightened some recommendations on how to deal with the pandemic, but at the same time the requirements for the elderly have been relaxed.

The number of new daily corona infections has also increased in Sweden since mid-September. Last Thursday, authorities reported 1,614 new infections in 24 hours, the highest value since June. Another argument against Sweden’s strategy is that the country had one of the highest death rates in Europe during the first wave of the pandemic. In the state with a population of 10.2 million, more than 5,930 people have already died as a result of an infection with the new corona virus.

In light of the second wave of infections, authorities are now making adjustments. Since the beginning of last week, residents of the university town of Uppsala have been advised to avoid public transportation and physical contact with people outside their home in light of the significantly higher number of infections at the beginning of the semester. The recommendations for the city 70 kilometers from Stockholm apply until November 3.

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Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell is a decisive warning against crown restrictions at the national level. “People can only follow such strict instructions for a limited time, and time is of the essence,” he says. “We must not start too early or wait too long.”

Sweden is one of the few countries that does not recommend using mouth and nasal protection to contain the coronavirus. The health authority does not see sufficient evidence of a protective effect of masks.

Tegnell: No herd immunity

In an interview with “Zeit”, Tegnell commented once again on the controversial concept of “herd immunity”. Your country never aspired to this. “Fighting for herd immunity is neither ethical nor justifiable. Even if younger people have less serious illnesses and die less often, it can still happen, ”Tegnell said. So far, there has been no infectious disease in which herd immunity has completely stopped transmission without prior vaccination.

If Sweden had wanted to rely on herd immunity, it would have acted differently, says the scientist. “So we would have recommended people to go out, meet as many people as possible and celebrate these strange crown parties.” At the same time, it is important to know the level of immunity in a population.

In the capital Stockholm, life seems to go on normally despite Corona. Hardly anyone wears a mask, trains and buses are usually full. Stores and restaurants will remain open without restrictions even in times of a pandemic.

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However, various polls showed that 80 percent of Swedes have changed their behavior due to the corona pandemic. They seem to follow the demands of authorities to work more in the home office, limit their personal contacts, and wash their hands more frequently. In fact, Swedes are known for their discipline in adhering to the rules of being together.

Large gatherings of people are prohibited.

Roger Palmqvist, who is in his 60s and from Stockholm, also relies on the government’s crown strategy. Sweden’s strategy may not work everywhere and no one is forcing other countries to do the same, he says. “But Swedes are like that, you know, they obey the rules.”

These rules are tested from time to time. On Thursday, Stefan Löfven’s government announced restrictions on nightclubs and at the same time surprisingly withdrew the recommendation in force since the start of the pandemic that people over 70 stay at home. The reason given was the risk that older people could develop health problems such as depression due to their isolation.

The ban on visiting nursing homes was lifted in early October. It was one of the few strict restrictions in Sweden. Gatherings of more than 50 people are also prohibited, and the ceiling for cultural and sporting events was recently raised to 300 spectators.

Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, many critics accused Sweden of playing a kind of Russian roulette with its crown policy and of accepting a large number of victims, especially among the elderly. However, from the point of view of the head of the Swedish Public Health Authority, Johan Carlson, the ebb and flow of lockdown measures in other countries shows that this approach is not a “way forward.”

And the Stockholm government also emphasizes that the crown measures must be enforceable in the long term. After all, fighting the pandemic is “a marathon, not a sprint.”