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When almost all European countries have been living for weeks a scenario of new daily cases and, in some cases, deaths, comparable to the peak of the covid-19 pandemic in spring, Sweden, which stood out from the beginning for a so-called relaxed approach, maintains one of the lowest infection rates.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the Scandinavian country registered in the last 14 days a total of 22.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 279 in Spain, 158.5 in France or 77 in Belgium, all the countries that chose to impose confinements for a few months, as did the majority of countries on the European continent.
ECDC data, as of Tuesday, compares 31 countries; of these, 22 have higher infection rates than Sweden.
“We do not have the resurgence of the disease that many countries have,” Anders Tegnell, an epidemiologist who advises the government and designed the strategy adopted, said in an interview with the France-24 news channel. In general, he says, the Swedes are happy with the measures, even though there are those who continue to accuse the leaders of “letting their elders die.”
The idea behind the decision to avoid strict confinements or quarantines, keeping schools open to students up to 16 years of age, shops, bars, restaurants or gyms, without ever recommending the use of a mask, was to delay contagion so as not to overload services . health, insists Tegnell. The epidemiologist emphasizes that the intention was never to accelerate group immunity, as has often been written.
In the end, we will see the difference that it will have made by betting on a more sustainable strategy, which we can maintain for a long time, instead of a strategy that implies closing everything, reopening and closing again ”, sums up Tegnell.
The main insistence has been individual responsibility: nothing has ever been demanded of the population, instead 10 million Swedes have been asked to respect social distance and, if possible, opt for teleworking. People over the age of 70 were advised to isolate themselves and only gatherings of more than 50 people were banned. The use of a mask was never recommended, which was adopted by some Swedes.
Currently, the country has fewer daily infections than Norway and Denmark, its Nordic neighbors, and has zero deaths related to the new coronavirus in an average of seven days. In Swedish hospitals there are 13 patients with covid-19 in intensive care.
“Consistent and sustainable”
“Sweden’s strategy has been consistent and sustainable,” reinforces Jonas Ludvigsson, professor of Epidemiology at the renowned Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, as quoted by the British newspaper The Guardian. “Probably, compared to other countries, we now have a lower risk of spread.”
Despite the self-proclaimed success in managing the pandemic that has already claimed the lives of more than 935,000 people worldwide and that, according to the World Health Organization, Europe is at a turning point, when “the contagion pressure will increase ”, the Swedish strategy has already been questioned. With 5,800 deaths related to covid-19, the country has ten times more deaths than Norway and Finland, half in households. In May, it became the country with the highest mortality rate. per capita of Europe.
The authorities guarantee that the protocols have been followed, but there are doctors who accuse the Government of “not even trying to save the elderly”, as France 24 Anders Vahlne, a virologist from the same Karolinska Institute in France, says. “They were very afraid of saturating the resuscitation services, of not being able to save young people who were seriously ill. I think it was too difficult to select patients ”, he complains.
Sacrificing the “old people”
The relatives of some of the deceased persons in the homes agree. “The doctor told us that they were following the protocols and that, as his uncle was elderly and weak, he would not receive hospital care,” Juliana Jihem, who saw her uncle, Moses Ntanda, die in a house for four days, told France 24. after. be diagnosed with covid-19 in April. The family has already filed a complaint with the police.
“We talked to him on FaceTime and we could see that the people who were there were not wearing masks or gloves,” says Peter Jihem, Juliana’s husband. “It seems to me that they sacrificed older people, and it is unacceptable, everyone has a chance to survive,” insists Ntanda’s niece, who was 72 years old and suffered from dementia.
The Swedish government said on Tuesday that from October it will end a ban on home visits that has been in place for months. “It is a risk when we lift the ban,” assumes the Minister of Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren. “I want everyone to take responsibility.”
Tegnell claims that the high death rate has nothing to do with any strategic decision, but with the fact that the catastrophic spread of the virus at home was not prevented. “Of course something went wrong there.”
