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Sweden’s top virologist admitted that he “is not convinced at all” that the country’s free-blocking strategy is correct, as Sweden saw a sharp drop in its number of daily deaths and the number of new infections today.
The Scandinavian country has become a closely watched case after keeping bars, restaurants, and high schools open throughout the pandemic.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has become the face of that strategy, but admitted in an interview with Aftonbladet that he was unsure if it was correct.
I am not convinced at all. We are constantly thinking about this in the [public health agency]. What can we do better and what else can we add? Said Tegnell.
“I think the most important thing all the time is to try to do the best you can, with the knowledge we have and the tools you have in place. And be humble all the time because you may have to change.
The daily number of Swedish coronavirus cases, shown in this graph, fell to 428 today after more than 600 cases per day in the previous three days
The number of daily deaths, shown in this graph, fell to 67 today after two consecutive days of more than 100 deaths.
Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, pictured, admitted that he had concerns about his own policy, saying it was constantly being revised
Friday’s figures showed 428 new cases in the last 24 hours, up from 790 yesterday, with a total of 21,092 to 21,520.
The number of daily deaths fell from 124 yesterday to 67 today, bringing the total from 2,586 to 2,653.
Sweden’s daily figures have been very erratic, and a drop in numbers has often been followed by an increase when backlogged cases are fully explained.
International opinion has been mixed, with Donald Trump pointing to Sweden yesterday and claiming that he is “paying a lot for his decision.”
Some Swedish scientists and academics have urged the country to adopt a tougher closure, with a higher death toll than in the rest of Scandinavia.
However, the WHO has suggested that Sweden could represent a “future model” for a normal life after closure.
Tegnell has defended Sweden’s policy as a long-term model because less drastic restrictions can be maintained for longer.
People sit outside and enjoy picnics in Stockholm last weekend, in a country that depends on voluntary measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
A choir and a bonfire at the Walpurgis night festivities in Stockholm, an activity that would be considered nonessential and canceled in much of Europe.
The Swedish government cites a high level of trust in government agencies as a reason for its more relaxed policy.
Sweden’s trust in government was second in the European Union, behind only the Netherlands, in a survey published by the European Commission in 2017.
The survey showed that 72 percent of Swedes trusted their government, compared to the EU average of 40 percent.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven defended the lack of a blockade last week, saying he was “confident in the overall strategy.”
“One reason why we have chosen this strategy, and where we have supported the agencies, is that all measures have to be sustainable over time,” he said.
The population-adjusted death toll in Sweden is lower than in Britain, France and Spain, which have imposed large-scale blockades since March.
The Scandinavian country’s population is also more dispersed: more than half of households are single-person households, easily the highest number in the EU.
Regardless of internal decisions, the global depression will hit Sweden’s economy, which the government hopes to contract seven percent this year.
JP Morgan has forecast that Sweden’s economy will shrink less than the eurozone average, but still with a 13.7 percent contraction in the current quarter.
That compares with a projected contraction of 17.3 percent for the euro area, 16.6 percent for Germany and 21.4 percent for France.
Nurses wearing protective gear and face masks care for a coronavirus patient in an intensive care department in Solna, near Stockholm
“The actions the Swedish government has taken are good and perhaps make the performance of the Swedish economy less bad than other economies,” said Jens Henriksson, CEO of the country’s largest mortgage lender, Swedbank.
“And that is good for the banking system.”
Rival SEB statistics showed that card transactions made through the bank fell 28 percent in Sweden in the week of April 6, much less than 70 percent in Finland and 66 percent in Denmark.
Sweden’s strategy received cautious endorsement from the World Health Organization on Wednesday.
“If we want to achieve a ‘new normal’, in many ways Sweden represents a future model,” said Mike Ryan, the WHO’s chief emergency expert.
But he also pointed out the faith of Swedes in the authorities, adding: “What he has done differently is that he really, really has trusted his own communities to implement that physical distancing.”
Sweden could reap a longer-term benefit if “collective immunity” is achieved faster there than elsewhere.
But this concept, where enough people have been infected to effectively stop the spread of the virus, has not been tested for the new disease.
The Swedish health agency model suggests that approximately 25 percent of people in the Stockholm region have had or will contract the disease.
By contrast, in neighboring Finland, health authorities have been concerned that the coronavirus has spread too slowly, leaving the country well below its peak.
