Covid 19 coronavirus: Australian health expert in Sweden reveals the truth about the so-called ‘success story’

On Swedish National Day in June, Australian David Steadson hoisted a flag at half-staff outside his home in the countryside, two hours north of Stockholm.

He did so to honor the more than 5,000 Swedes who had died from the coronavirus since the country’s leaders decided to act alone with a strategy that has since polarized experts around the world.

But when the locals passed by Steadson’s front yard, they asked, “Who died?”

The answer still resonates with the former University of Queensland public health researcher who has called Sweden home for 20 years.

Deliberate ignorance weighs heavily on his chest, like the virus he has been fighting since March.

Some days it feels like “someone is strangling me,” he says. He stays awake until the wee hours of the morning, when his body is finally “too exhausted to stay awake.”

The former epidemiologist is “disgusted” by the public health response in Sweden, where more than 85,000 people have contracted the virus and 5,800 have died, but the streets remain crowded and masks are in short supply.

He has a message for Australians trapped in lockdown who envy Sweden’s freedom: “The Swedish strategy is not a success, it is a failure.”

‘Pandemic is not close to ending’

The warning comes as Sweden has recorded its lowest positive test rate in months, even after a drastic expansion of the testing regimen.

In the past week, only 1.3 percent of tests showed Covid-19 cases, compared with more than 19 percent at the peak of the pandemic. The number is less than in neighboring Norway and Denmark.

Public health chief Johan Carlson told The Times this week that Swedes appeared to benefit from the approach.

“Our strategy was consistent and sustainable,” said Professor Carlson. “We probably have a lower risk of [the virus] spread than in other countries. “

But Steadson said the degree of autonomy given to the Swedes allowed “confusion and inertia” to surrender, as restrictions such as wearing masks and social distancing were voluntary rather than legally enforced.

The leaders relied on the goodwill and cooperation of people to work from home, stay home if they were unwell, avoid public transportation, funerals, parties and weddings, and wash their hands.

“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 absolutely no sense to my ethics,” he told news.com.au.

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

In March, with Sweden’s borders wide open and tests and exams virtually non-existent, the country’s Public Health Authority insisted that everything was fine.

“A week later, my entire family was sick with symptoms of Covid-19,” says Steadson.

“We all recover in a couple of weeks, then a couple of weeks later, I got sick again. I’m still sick.”

The Swedish strategy, says Steadson, was based on two false assumptions: that the virus could be stopped and that it was not as deadly as feared.

According to New Scientist, Sweden’s infection rate is 8,200 per million people (Australia’s is around 1,000 per million) with a death rate of 57 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to just five in Norway and 11 in Denmark. Australia’s current deaths per 100,000 people are 3.1.

Steadson says the pandemic in Sweden is not close to over.

“In the last two weeks, people have gone back to school and work, and we continue to have between 1,000 and 2,000 new cases a week,” Steadson says.

“The numbers have started to rise again, and I hope they will continue to climb as we move into fall and winter. The pandemic is not even close to ending in Sweden.”

‘They told me not to see a doctor’

The former University of Queensland academic says that more than five months after being infected, he is improving week by week, but he still has days “where I feel like someone is strangling me and I can’t breathe properly.”

“For the past three days I have had a painful and inflamed digestive tract. And sleeping? Forget this.

“In Sweden, it is estimated that there are more than 150,000 people who have been ill with Covid-19 symptoms for more than 10 weeks. I am one of them. For many weeks I had levels of oxygen in my blood that, under normal circumstances, would trigger a clinical assessment of supplemental oxygen “.

When he first got sick, the doctors’ advice was to stay away.

“Having suspected that I had Covid-19, they told me not even to go to the doctor for fear of infecting health personnel,” he says.

Steadson says that what is perhaps even more concerning is the description of the virus in the Swedish media.

“The media seem more concerned with protecting the image of Sweden than with reporting the facts, and challenging the authorities over some of the frankly scandalous statements they make is left almost entirely to foreign journalists,” he says.

Swedish model would be a disaster in Australia

Dr Nick Talley is editor-in-chief of the Medical Journal of Australia. He says that the Swedish model has been a failure.

“In my opinion, the Swedish model has not been a success, at least to date,” he told news.com.au.

“A clear goal at least from the beginning 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. There is evidence that there was a significant impact of this voluntary lockdown on behavior, as reflected, for example, in reduced mobility and spending. However, the spread of Covid-19 and the death rate was substantially higher in Sweden compared to its neighbors who demanded shutdowns.

“A major factor contributing to the failure of the voluntary approach was the spread of infection to nursing homes. Young people also seem to have been the least likely to alter their behavior, which may have contributed to community spread.

“In particular, the economy was not spared from contraction with the approach. I am not convinced that the Swedish model is more successful here in Australia, and arguably lower compliance with voluntary recommendations the results would be worse. Look at the use of masks in Sydney, which is voluntary, but has been highly recommended. “