Sweden’s lax approach to the coronavirus backfire.

tobby

Sweden’s lax approach to the coronavirus backfire. Refused to implement a coronavirus lockdown, now bracing for a surge in deaths.


April 8, 2020 at 2:49 PM EDT
Washington Post

With large parts of Europe in lockdown in response to the covid-19 pandemic, one country stands out:Sweden has no mandatory quarantines and few limitationson free movement. Elementary schools remain open; malls, gyms and shopping streets are far from empty. Sidewalk cafes are stillbustling with life.

Prime Minister Stefan Lfven has urged Swedes to apply “common sense.”  Sweden maintained that it will turn out to be more effective.

Although much remains unknown, there is already enough data to suggest that this laissez-faire approach constitutes a dangerous gamble with human life. There are indications that Sweden is experiencing a higher death toll than its neighbors. While the Scandinavian countries reported their first fatalities at roughly the same time, Sweden as of April 8 had 687 fatalities, Denmark 218 and Norway 93. In per capita terms, Sweden is faring clearly worse than Norway and increasingly worse than Denmark.

With exponential growth, each week is an eternity: Spain recorded its first fatality only one month ago. For all their cultural differences, Swedes might end up infecting their elderly to a larger extent than the Maltese, who rely on travel restrictions and mass testing, while Swedes put much trust in cultural exceptionalism to protect them against the virus.

In particular, Sweden seems to have failed to protect its most vulnerable citizens, in part by relying on speculative cultural theories. Authorities have argued that Swedessocialize less across generationsthan southern Europeans, and that Sweden could let the elderly self-isolate while merely slowing the spread of the virus among the rest of the population until so-calledherd immunity is attained. Although herd immunity is not the official strategy, some officials maintain that there isno other conceivable wayto stop the epidemic,praisingthe original British strategy that the United Kingdom later backed away from.

There are now alarming reports that the virushas spreadtoone-third of nursing homesin Stockholm, which has resulted inrising fatalities.

But it was never clear how this risky strategy of isolating the elderly while others got infected would work in practice.

While it is true that Swedes rarely live with their parents, older citizens are hardly isolated: The Scandinavian model simply outsources care from families to caretakers who visit dozens of clients every week. Caretakers are rarely tested for the virus but have simply been urged to stay at home if and shortly after experiencing symptoms.

Nor is there much indication that the Swedish economy is weathering the storm better than comparable countries. The drop in the stock market and the rise in unemployment are roughly in line with other advanced economies.

According toofficial Swedish estimates, Sweden’s GDP is expected to contract by 3.4 percent this year, which is better than the 5.5 percent decline projected in a euro zone dragged down by Italy and Spain, but worse than the 2.9 percent decline prognosticated for the United States. If these prognoses are accurate, the Swedish experiment might indicate that the economic effects of the pandemic cannot be escaped by a laissez-faire approach, but that the crash is mainly driven by declining global demand, disruption in production chains, and a collective fear and loss of confidence among billions across the globe.

Another lesson in policy evaluation is that we should avoid jumping to conclusions based on “just-so” narratives before taking the time lag into account.

In the past few weeks, the country has experienced a bizarre nationalistic wavedubbed“public health nationalism” (”folkhlsonationalism”), which celebrates Sweden as an island of common sense in a sea of panic and resistance to science. According to this narrative promulgated by authorities andmediaalike, cultural exceptionalism such ashigh public trustmakes Sweden particularly well-equipped to manage the pandemic. When asked why Sweden’s strategy deviates from other countries’, Sweden’s influential former state epidemiologist Johan Gieseckequipped, “That is because everyone else is doing it wrong.” He went on to explain how he could be so confident: ”I think we will manage the epidemic without destroying the economy more than necessary. The absolutely most important thing is to protect the elderly from getting infected. I think we succeed quite well in that. It lies in the Swedish national character to do as one is told.”

The public has been assured that Sweden will outperform other countries even though the country ranks fifth-highest inper capita deathsof the countries surveyed.

noor2

Herd immunity ni mcm kita biarkan semua dijangkiti dan yg boleh melawan balik penyakit tu hidup kan.....tapi..lupakah kita yg virus ni tetap menyerang kali kedua yg pertama kali dapat melawan virus tu....dan kesan dia fungsi paru berkurang 20% -30%...so yg sihat tetap kena serangan dan akhirnya mati....kecuali virus tu kita dapat hapuskan dari area kita hidup...

Ke aku silap pemahaman. ...

mbhcsf

herd immunity approach ni

mbhcsf

i hope kygo is ok.

ninja9

kalau tak lockdown memanglah naik tapi nak tengok adakah naik mencanak mcm negara europe yang lain.

kalau tak lockdown jg pas tu memang herd immunitylah. .. entah tinggal berapa juta penduduk dia nanti

harizs

ninja9 replied at 9-4-2020 07:50 PM
kalau tak lockdown memanglah naik tapi nak tengok adakah naik mencanak mcm negara europe yang lain.  ...

As of 1 January 2020, the population of Sweden was estimated to be 10. 2 million.   

10 juta jer rakyat dia.  hari ni total death 793.   

Pddk Msia 32 juta.  total death 67

harizs

sekejap jer naik 793 total death.  walhal 2 minggu lepas baru 200 mati

noor2

harizs replied at 9-4-2020 08:14 PM
As of 1 January 2020, the population of Sweden was estimated to be 10. 2 million.   

10 juta j ...

Angkuh sangat kerajaan dia...dan rakyat juga mcm.x cerdik konon kebal ke apa...aku nak tengok dalam seminggu ni brp kes jangkitan dan kematian kat Sweden. ..jgn nanti mengelupor last2 sudah. ...too late

Akumagoukioni

Banyak orang hidup merana di atas muka bumi nie jd Allah jemput meke 'balik'

Akumagoukioni

Banyak orang hidup merana di atas muka bumi nie jd Allah jemput meke 'balik'

nuno

Aku sokong sweden
Harini aku solidariti dengan memakan ikea meatballs
dari pagi sampai malam

ninja9

harizs replied at 9-4-2020 08:16 PM
sekejap jer naik 793 total death.  walhal 2 minggu lepas baru 200 mati

strategi tak menjadi nampaknya...

ninja9

nuno replied at 9-4-2020 08:23 PM
Aku sokong sweden
Harini aku solidariti dengan memakan ikea meatballs
dari pagi sampai malam

mudah mudahan doanya sampai...

nuno

ninja9 replied at 9-4-2020 08:29 PM
mudah mudahan doanya sampai...

Hahaha..pasni boleh target koenigsegg agera one 1
Confirm harga saing2 lambo malaysia(myvi)

silencekiller

Musti pemimpin2 Sweden ni dok idolakan Pemimpin2 Pakatan Hancing & macai2 depa... tu pandang ringan jaa semua jaa... ada macai dok meroyan ke hulu ke hilir sejak MCO .. ada macai amek kesempatan dok menghasut... maybe ada elaun hasutan tambahan sempena MCO ...

harizs

silencekiller replied at 9-4-2020 09:00 PM
Musti pemimpin2 Sweden ni dok idolakan Pemimpin2 Pakatan Hancing & macai2 depa... tu pandang ringan  ...

mungkin belajar dari geng PAN.  denggi & obesiti lagi bahaye.  belajar dari menteri Pelancongan PH.... "Coronavirus masalah sebegitu kecil..."

dua_chzy

Mohon @blastoff dan Fox2 something nicknya tuh insoff baca tered nih.

harizs

mbhcsf replied at 9-4-2020 07:37 PM
herd immunity approach ni

kesian... habis rumah2 warga tua Sweden dijangkiti covid19 angkara petugas2 rmh warga tua yg tak sedar mrk  dah pun dijangkiti virus selama beberapa hari tanpa simptom

Nahnukutu

Dorang nak baiki lagi DNA pool yang dah sedia hebat. Go for quality, not quantity.

kira ini macam pruning cara Sweden lah

tobby

Nahnukutu replied at 9-4-2020 09:12 PM
Dorang nak baiki lagi DNA pool yang dah sedia hebat. Go for quality, not quantity.

kira ini macam ...

semoga Sweden berjaya