- Anders Tegnel, chief epidemiologist at Sweden’s Public Health Agency, told the Financial Times: “It’s very dangerous to believe that face masks would change the game when it comes to COVID-19.”
- “Face masks can be a complement to other things when other things are safely in place. But to start having face masks and then think you can follow your buses as your malls – that is definitely a mistake,” he said.
- His refusal to recommend masks came despite neighboring Denmark, Finland and Norway all changing their stance on masks last week.
- Despite Tegnel’s resistance, there has been a growing body of research found that face masks prevent transmission, including an analysis of 42 countries that said mask use was the ‘key’ to controlling the pandemic, Business Insider reported. earlier.
- On Tuesday, the Swedish Public Health Bureau said it was looking for proposals for the government, and one option was to recommend at least reasons for face masks, such as going to the hospital.
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Sweden’s top epidemiologist refuses to recommend face masks, saying it is “extremely dangerous” to rely on them.
Anders Tegnel, chief epidemiologist at the Swedish Public Health Agency, told the Financial Times: “It’s very dangerous to believe that face masks would change the game when it comes to COVID-19.”
“Face masks can be a complement to other things when other things are safely in place. But to start having face masks and then think you can follow your buses as your malls – that is definitely a mistake,” he said.
Tegnel, who is seen as the architect behind Sweden’s No-lockdown strategy, supported his claim by pointing to countries such as Spain and Belgium that recommend masks and still had high numbers of COVID-19 cases, according to the Times.
His refusal to recommend masks came despite neighboring Denmark, Finland and Norway all changing their stance on masks last week.
Norway advises them on public transport in periods of hours, and Denmark makes it compulsory on public transport.
Despite Tegnel’s resistance, there has been a growing body of research that found that face masks prevent transmission, including an analysis of 42 countries that said mask use was the ‘key’ to controlling the pandemic, Business Insider reported earlier. .
Karolinska Institutet professor of clinical epidemiology Jonas Ludvigsson told the Times one of the reasons Sweden did not embrace masks was that most people trusted the authorities, compared to other countries where people could ignore advice and wear masks, despite.
“When the Swedish Bureau of Health says there is no reason to wear face masks, people do not wear face masks,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Swedish Public Health Bureau said it was looking at proposals for the government going forward, and one option it could consider was to recommend face masks for specific reasons, such as going to the hospital.
Earlier this month, Tegnel also claimed that up to 30% of Sweden’s population could be immune to COVID-19, but its claim was not supported by data, Business Insider reported earlier.
As of August 20, Sweden had 85,411 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 5,802 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
