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Sweden has been an outlier in the global pandemic: it avoided closed closings and mostly kept restaurants, bars, schools, cinemas and gyms open. And although death rates were high compared to their Nordic neighbors, they were comparable to those of the largest European countries.
Now a second wave has led to a further surge in infections and Stockholm’s emergency services are overwhelmed, forcing authorities to recalibrate their approach. They imposed new restrictions at the end of November that put the country’s response somewhat more in line with the rest of Europe. They include drastic cuts in the size of public meetings and some school closings.
But with ski lifts, restaurants and bars open, Sweden’s tighter restrictions still pale in comparison to the rest of Europe and there is growing concern that not enough is being done. Intensive care beds in hospitals in the Stockholm region are currently occupied, regional health director Bjorn Eriksson told a news conference on Tuesday.
“We are well beyond 100 percent capacity in intensive care. We are approaching almost double the available spaces, ”he said.
Since the pandemic began, a debate has arisen both inside and outside Sweden about how to curb the virus. When other countries closed in the spring, Sweden stayed open out of concern that keeping everyone locked up at home would have detrimental long-term effects on children and adults and could lead to depression, suicide, postponed medical care and loss of jobs.
On Monday, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said that the country’s experts had underestimated the likelihood of a second wave. It was the first time that an official criticized, even indirectly, the Swedish Public Health Agency, the group of experts in charge of formulating policies on the coronavirus and the epidemiologist who leads it, Anders Tegnell.
In October, Mr. Tegnell said he hoped that expanding immunity in the population would help Sweden overcome the decline with a low level of cases.
“I think most of the profession did not see a second wave coming,” Lofven said in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
Tegnell’s agency is no longer making all the decisions on virus policy and increasingly has to share the stage with Swedish politicians who have taken a more active role.
During the first wave, deaths were high, especially among the elderly. On Tuesday, a special commission concluded in an initial report that the government had failed to protect the elderly and was not prepared for the pandemic. That said, the death toll among those over 80 has been high across Europe.
The number of infections and deaths have risen steadily since October. By Tuesday, Sweden had reached a total of 320,098 cases since the start of the pandemic, while neighboring Finland, with a population about half that of Sweden, has 31,110 cases, less than 10 percent of Sweden’s. .
The total death toll in Sweden reached 7,667 as of Tuesday. The country now has 74 deaths per 100,000 cases, less than the United Kingdom, with 97, but far more than its neighbor Norway, with seven.
“I’m afraid it’s going to get even worse,” said Karin Hildebrand, a cardiologist in the intensive care unit at Sodersjukhuset hospital in Stockholm. “We are all dreading the next few weeks. We don’t have enough staff to deal with this. “
Nurses have left their jobs in large numbers since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Around 3,000 nurses have left their jobs during the first 10 months of the year,” said Sineva Ribeiro, president of the Swedish Association of Health Professionals. “Those who stayed have been working very, very hard.”
And now the government is being criticized for not doing enough.
“I was hoping this dire situation would turn things around, but yesterday they opened the ski lifts in Sweden,” said Fredrik Elgh, professor of clinical virology at Umea University and a well-known critic here of the official response to the coronavirus. “Given such actions, I don’t think the government is taking the firm action that it hoped for.”
The Lofven government, in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, issued new recommendations in late November that banned gatherings of more than eight people.
While schools for children under 16 have remained open during the pandemic, some are now closing after the outbreaks. A ban on serving alcohol after 10pm has been implemented. On Monday, a state agency sent out mass text messages warning people to limit holiday gatherings to a maximum of eight people.
But officials are asking, not ordering.
Under Swedish law, the government cannot force people to stay home or fine those who disobey the recommendations.
The Netherlands, with lower infection rates than Sweden, entered a total lockdown on Tuesday. Germany closes most of the country on Wednesday.
Swedish restaurants, cafes and bars are still open.
Face masks are not recommended in Sweden because the Public Health Authority says there is not enough scientific evidence that they work.
Then on Monday afternoon, the “Chic Konditori”, which sells coffee and sweets in Stockholm, was full of customers. Tea Kagstrom, an 18-year-old college student with feathered blonde hair, was sitting with two friends enjoying a cup of coffee. When asked why he was not wearing a mask, he replied that it is not required.
“The Public Health Authority has not said that we should wear masks in public places,” he said.
The government is drafting an emergency law that would give it powers to order lockdowns and close deals when the virus spreads.
Still, critics call for tougher measures.
“We need a few weeks of lockdown to bring the numbers down,” said Tove Fall, a professor of molecular epidemiology at Uppsala University near Stockholm. “Other countries are taking much higher precautions with lower levels of transmission.”
Some are upset that masks are not used in Sweden.
“We are the only democracy in the world that does not recommend the use of masks. There are more than 170 countries in the world that recommend the use of masks. But here they are saying that there is not enough science behind it. That’s nonsense, ”said Elgh, the virology professor.
But others still argue that the threat of the virus is exaggerated.
“Every death is sad but you have to put it in proportion. About 85 percent of those who died in Sweden also had another disease, and many of those who died this spring probably would have died by the end of this year, “said Johnny Ludvigsson, a pediatrician at Linkoping University, in an interview with the Aftonbladet newspaper.
“I think we are being too dramatic about the death toll during the corona pandemic,” he said. “Compare that to what will happen when we have higher mortality among younger people due to increased heart attacks, late diagnosis of cancer, or increased levels of depression that can lead to suicide.”
