Swedish strategy is not behind high mortality rates

On Friday, the state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell gave an interview to France24 where he rejects that the Swedish strategy, initially much more liberal than other countries, has anything to do with the fact that so many have died from the virus in Sweden.

Anders Tegnell: “There is no clear connection”

On Sunday, the Swedish Public Health Agency reported 5,846 deaths as a result of COVID-19. Many times more than our Nordic neighbors who have had stricter restrictions.

– With the same strategy that we have had all the time, during the last two or three months we have had almost no new cases in the care of the elderly. The deaths have also been very few for a long time, so there is definitely no close connection between the strategy and the number of deaths. I’m not saying there is no connection, but there is no clear connection, Anders Tegnell tells France24, reports TT.

Anders Tegnell believes that the reason for the high number of deaths in Sweden is due to reasons other than strategy, and that it is not possible to compare with the Nordic neighbors.

– Sweden had a very strong epidemic very early on, much stronger than our neighboring countries. It was a very difficult start and made our pandemic more reminiscent of that of the UK and France, and cannot be compared to that of Norway and Finland, says Tegnell, also mentioning nursing homes:

“It does not mean that the strategy itself was wrong”

– The high mortality rate is strongly related to our nursing homes that had weaknesses. Not all nursing homes, but some places, which made it possible for the disease to take hold and spread.

When the reporter, referring to the high death rates, wonders if something must have gone wrong anyway, Tegnell responds:

– Of course, when 5,800 people have died. It was definitely not something we expected, planned or expected. So definitely something went wrong, but that doesn’t mean the strategy itself was wrong, Anders Tegnell tells France24, reports TT.