[ad_1]
“There are indications that Sweden has acquired an element of immunity to the disease, which, given other Swedish measures to control the spread of the virus, is sufficient to control the virus,” Kim Sneppen, professor at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, told Politiken. .
According to figures provided by OurWorldinData, there have been an average of 23 cases per million people per day in Sweden over the past seven days. There are 61 cases in Denmark and 20 in Norway.
However, Sneppen notes that there were more COVID-19 victims in Sweden in April, May and June than in Denmark.
“It just came to our attention then. On the positive side, it’s safe to say that the pandemic is over for them,” says the expert.
Sneppen, together with Lone Simonsen from the University of Roskilde, developed a model to explain the trajectory of the pandemic in Sweden and Denmark, which emphasizes the importance of “super distributors,” a minority of the population who have disproportionately spread the virus.
A study published in August by Tom Britton of Stockholm University estimates that if we assume that the most socially active members of society are infected first, then the general immunity threshold could drop to 43%, far from the 60-70% considered in epidemiology. classic strip.
“Only 20 percent. Immunity makes a big difference, since those who got sick at the beginning of the epidemic were the most vulnerable to the virus because they were the most socially active,” Britikon explained to Politiken.
During a press conference last Tuesday, Danish state epidemiologist Kare Molbak warned that Denmark was still in the “first wave of the virus” because the first wave, which started in the spring, did not have time to “develop properly because the passive phase “.
Soren Riis Paludan, a professor of biomedicine at Aarhus University, says there is growing evidence to suggest that the Swedish Public Health Agency may have been wrong in deciding on a strategy that has led to a controlled development of public immunity.
“You could say he chose the right solution, but at first he was not ready for it and he did not protect the most vulnerable,” says SR Paludan.
Others argue that the risk of new chorovirus outbreaks has not disappeared in Sweden.
“I don’t think it is possible to rule out the possibility that there are no more virus activations in Sweden, as we are currently observing in Denmark,” Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at Aarhus University, told the newspaper.
Announce an intermediate victory
Sweden announced a tentative victory in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in early September – the number of positive tests in the country is currently the lowest since the virus broke out.
“Our strategy has been consistent and sustainable. We probably have a lower risk of spreading the (virus) than in other countries,” said Jonas Ludvigsson, professor of epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute.
Swedes, he said, likely now have greater immunity than residents of most other countries. “I think now we will benefit greatly from this,” said the professor.
Sweden has insisted on a strategy to curb the new coronavirus, based not on legal prohibitions and restrictions, but on human conscience. And today, when the number of new cases in Europe begins to grow again, Sweden still does not recommend the use of protective masks, writes AFP.
Although much of the world is already used to covering their nose and mouth in one way or another in public places, Swedes use public transport, walk through shops and elsewhere without any face protection. Developing a man in a protective mask here is a real rarity. Public health officials say that protective masks are not an effective way to stop the spread of the virus.
According to them, it is much more important to observe a safe distance and follow the recommendations for hand washing. This Scandinavian country is the seventh largest in the world in terms of deaths from COVID-19. Experts say this situation arose from the inability to protect nursing home residents at the beginning of the spread of the disease. In Sweden, educational establishments, businesses, cafes or restaurants were not closed, which created the conditions for the virus to circulate freely and the spread of the disease to be relatively high. The fact is that now, unlike other parts of Europe, where the number of new coronavirus cases is increasing again (for example, in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Italy), the statistics in Sweden they are moving in the right direction, and the cases are decreasing.
The death toll peaked in April, now only a few people die from COVID-19 a day, and the number of new deaths has been steadily declining since the beginning of June. Swedish public health officials say they see no reason to change the current strategy in any way, all the more so since the positive results are visible.
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency says there is no research to show that face masks are effective in reducing the spread of the virus, meaning improper use can do more harm than good. “There are at least three important reports – from the World Health Organization, the European Union Health Agency and the Lancet report on which the World Health Organization relies – that the scientific basis is very poor. No we have carried out our evaluation on this issue ”, he recently explained to the press.
KK Cheng AFP, an epidemiologist at the University of Birmingham Institute for Applied Health Research, told the news agency that such thinking was “irresponsible” and “childish” and called on the Swedes to change tack. “It just came to our attention then. If I’m wrong, what is the damage?” He asked.
Mr Tegnell argues that with the introduction of the necessary measures in nursing homes, the figures in Sweden are increasingly gratifying. This is also due to the fact that sick people stay home, work from home, and maintain a safe distance. “Attempts to replace those measures with the obligation to wear protective masks will not work. Several countries that have started wearing masks now have deteriorating statistics,” said Sweden’s leading epidemiologist on August 14.
It is strictly prohibited to use the information published by DELFI on other websites, in the media or elsewhere, or to distribute our material in any way without consent, and if consent has been obtained, it is necessary to indicate DELFI as the source.
[ad_2]
