[ad_1]
Sweden and its atypical strategy against covid-19 are facing difficulties in the face of a significant second wave, local officials warned on Thursday, the same day the king assures that the Nordic country “has failed.”
“The public health authority prepared three scenarios in the summer. We prepare for the worst, but it is twice as bad, ”Lars Falk, director of intensive care at Karolinska hospital in Stockholm, explained to France Presse.
Pressure resuscitation services, request for reinforcement of all qualified health personnel in Stockholm, mortality up to 10 times higher than that of its northern neighbors: this autumn, the Swedish strategy, less rigid in the face of the epidemic, repeats the poor results of spring .
“Unfortunately, the level of contagion is not decreasing (…) and it is very worrying,” Stockholm region health director Bjorn Eriksson told AFP, describing “the enormous pressure on the health system” .
“Enough is enough,” he protested last week. It is not worth having a drink after work, meeting people outside the home, going shopping for Christmas or having a coffee: the consequences are terrible ”.
Earlier this week, covid-19 hospitalizations in Sweden equaled their peak on April 20, with almost 2,400 patients in treatment, although the proportion in intensive care is twice as low as in spring, around 10%.
The death toll reached 7,802 on Wednesday, more than 1,800 since early November, and the number of new cases averages 6,000 a day, according to official data.
“I think we failed,” the King of Sweden, Carlos XVI Gustavo, said today in a rare foray into today’s comment.
“Many people have died and it is terrible. It is something that makes us all suffer, ”he told SVT television during a year-end interview.
Without masks, bars, restaurants and shops closings or mandatory quarantine, Sweden distinguished itself by a strategy based largely on “recommendations” and very few enforcement actions.
In view of the sharp increase in the number of infected people, stricter recommendations were made, that is, not to live with people other than those at home.
Contrary to what many believe, the Scandinavian country never sought herd immunity, but health officials thought the high level of infections in the spring would allow them to more easily contain a resurgence of the epidemic in the long term.
The second wave of the epidemic affected Sweden a little later than the rest of the European countries, but the excess mortality exceeded 10% in November and is expected to continue to worsen.
Despite criticism on Tuesday from an independent commission, Prime Minister Stefan Lovfven has so far refused to call the strategy a failure.
While most maintain confidence in the authorities, the rate has declined since September, according to an Ipsos survey released today.
Dr. Lars Falk believes that “more needs to be done” by increasing restrictions, especially during the holidays.
In recent weeks some measures have been taken, with the gatherings of more than eight people and the prohibition of the sale of alcohol after 10 pm, while high school students have switched to distance education.
Like the rest of Europe, Sweden has high hopes for the vaccination that it hopes to launch in late December and make it available to the entire population by mid-2021.
[ad_2]
