Covid 19 coronavirus: Sweden’s strategy takes a turn as cases rise

Coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in Sweden as authorities try to maintain the twin battles: contain the virus and control the narrative.

The separatist Nordic nation divided experts by refusing to lock up its citizens when the virus swept through the country this year.

But a devastating second wave has forced a dramatic rethinking, as infections threaten to derail any progress made by taking a now notoriously relaxed approach to the pandemic.

The regions have been effectively locked down to contain a doubling of Covid-19 cases in just three weeks.

Australian David Steadson, a former public health researcher now living in Sweden, told news.com.au that the region where he lives is experiencing a worrying rate of new infections.

“Sweden has now seen a doubling of cases in three weeks, reaching more than 1000 new cases in one day for the first time since June,” he said.

“The number of hospitalizations and ICUs is also starting to increase.”

He said infections in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, where he and his family live, have more than doubled.

in the last two weeks, forcing the authorities to introduce new restrictions.

“While most Swedes won’t call it blocking, the key to going is, whenever possible, to avoid all contact with people outside of your own family.

“[Authorities are] explicitly stating not having social events and working from home if possible. “

Time magazine reports that Sweden’s per capita death rate last week was 58.6 per 100,000 people and that the average daily cases increased by 173% from early September to early October “with particularly dramatic increases. in cities like Stockholm and Uppsala. “

The Washington Post reports that Sweden’s total cumulative deaths from infections is 10 times higher than neighboring Norway and Finland and five times higher than Denmark.

“Cases recorded in Sweden are slightly above 106,300, compared to around 13,800 in Finland and 16,600 in Norway, each with about half of Sweden’s population,” the Post reports.

And the UK Times reports that new cases each day have risen on average from 160 in September to almost 700 in October.

Steadson, who used to work for the University of Queensland, says the Swedish government is looking to change the law – “and if necessary the constitution” – to make the requirements “law” rather than waiting for the population to do the right thing. voluntarily.

“They expect it to take months to do so, so it anticipates future crises and it won’t be ready until next summer,” he said.

Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell is reportedly traveling to the Covid-19 affected regions to discuss their respective lockdown measures.

He told the public broadcaster: “If they don’t seem to have an effect … then of course we need to consider other ways to limit these broadcast opportunities.”

Tegnell, who has achieved cult status in Sweden, has rarely moved from his post.

He told the New Statesman in April that “locking people at home will not work in the long run.”

“Sooner or later, people are going to come out anyway,” he said. “I want to make it clear that no, we did not close like many other countries, but we definitely had a virtual blockade.”

He said the Swedes “changed their behavior enormously” and did so without the need to enforce laws as in other countries.

“We stopped traveling even more than our neighboring countries. The airports had no flights anywhere, the trains were running at a small percentage of normal service, so there were huge changes in society.”

But Steadson, who contracted Covid-19 in March and still suffers from a variety of symptoms, including shortness of breath, said Sweden’s goal was to achieve “herd immunity,” which, as a scientist, made no sense to him.

“Allowing a deadly virus to spread in the hope of eventual ‘herd immunity’ made no sense to me scientifically, given our then limited knowledge, and it made no ethical sense to me,” he told news.com.au this year. . .

“People would die unnecessarily and I was frankly disgusted with what I was hearing from the Swedish Public Health Authority.”

Dr Nick Talley, editor-in-chief of the Medical Journal of Australia, agreed that Sweden was wrong.

“The Swedish model has not been a success, at least to date,” he said.

“A clear goal at least from the start was to achieve herd immunity, but this was not achieved, not even close, and arguably predictable.

“Restrictions were put in place, but the philosophy was voluntary rather than mandatory.”