As the government struggles to find the right approach to getting children back to school in England, there is one European country that could keep its classrooms open during the whole pandemic – Sweden.
When the coronavirus began to make a serious impact in March, countries across the continent each came up with ways to combat the spread of the disease.
Most countries, including the United Kingdom, relocate to locksmiths, restrict travel for their population and close all businesses and schools.
But while the four British peoples are wrestling over how to successfully return students to education – and ensure that parents maintain confidence in the process – Sweden has managed to keep its students in the classroom.
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Ministers are struggling to present a coherent plan for reopening schools in England – particularly in the face of masked violence – with anger from parents, teachers’ unions and opposition parties.
The government carried out another education-related overhaul earlier this week when it decided to stop advising against masks worn in schools in England.
The new policy is that staff and students in secondary schools in areas with high infection should be required to wear a mask.
Scotland has made it a requirement that masks be worn at all secondary schools, while Wales said it will decide on schools and councils.
Sweden has never closed schools as part of the easy approach to lockdown, with most businesses remaining open.
The country has implemented some tough rules, banning visits to nursing homes and stopping large gatherings of more than 50 people as the most important.
Businesses and the general population have also rapidly adopted social distance, with bars and restaurants putting tape on every other table to keep people separate.
Statistician Ola Rosling told the BBC More or less podcast in July: “We have kept our schools open and I absolutely believe that all countries in the world can do that.
“The children are told to keep separate, the teachers are careful, there is no cuddling etc. And in Sweden we see no evidence that parents and teachers are much more infected.”
Rosling said that although they did not have perfect data to properly assess the impact, he stated that there were hardly any outbreaks in schools.
He also said that Sweden had several advantages when it came to fighting epidemics, with many people living on their own and a very low population density.
Swedish schools are currently asked to ensure that social distancing takes place, but do not recommend the use of masks.
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While some schools do part of their education digitally, in principle all have been open since the pandemic began.
The main difference that school students have to deal with is always strict social distancing, especially between student and teacher.
The Swedish Public Health Bureau said in July that keeping schools during the pandemic did not lead to a higher infection rate among their children compared to neighboring Finland.
The report showed that severe cases of COVID-19 were very rare among both Swedish and Finnish children aged one to 19 years, with no reported deaths.
Children made up about 8.2% of the total number of COVID-19 cases in Finland, compared to 2.1% in Sweden.
They have argued that the negative effects of a closure on the economy and society outweigh the benefits, saying that this also applies to schools.
Last week, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven defended keeping schools open.
He said: “What has been discussed the most, and what we do differently in Sweden, has been that we have not closed schools.
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“Now there are a lot of people who think we’m right.”
Lofven also commented on why masks in most areas, including schools, were only recommended instead of mandatory.
He said: “What they say, and what I absolutely believe, is that they may not be the most important tool we use.”
“What is still important is social distance, testing and following. That should be our main focus to reduce infection. ”
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday issued new advice that students over the age of 12 should wear a mask to school.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s leading architect of the approach, told the Observer earlier this month that 30% of the country could have antibodies.
It is not yet completely clear that after recovering from COVID-19 the antibodies you have developed make you completely immune to the disease.
It emerged this week a man in Hong Kong recovering from the coronavirus was re-infected four and a half months later.
Even if Tegnell’s estimate of 30% immunity is correct, they are still far from the required 70 or so percent required to achieve effective herd immunity.
The decision to keep schools open has not been perfect, at least one teacher has died after the coronavirus contract at a school where 18 out of 76 staff tested positive.
More than 5,800 Swedes have died from COVID-19, a much higher death rate than in neighboring Norway, Denmark and Finland.
Sweden currently has a number of cases per 100,000 on an average of 14 days of 35.4, higher than the UK’s 22.6, but lower than France’s 70 and Spain’s 191.9.
Deaths per 100,000 over the past 14 days are equal to 0.4, twice as high as the UK, but lower than Spain’s 0.8.
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