Adopt Sweden's model
We should adopt Sweden's way of being with the virus - Swedes are laughing and basking in freedoms considered normal in most parts of the world not long ago, before coronavirus lockdowns, quarantines and mass restrictions upended social norms. As other nations in Europe begin to consider reopening their economies, Sweden’s experience would seem to argue for less caution, not more. “My respect for those who died, but we are doing something right here in Sweden,” said Johan Mattsson, 44, as he was having a drink at a cafe on Skanegatan Street. The restaurant consultant praised the freedoms he had in Sweden compared to other countries. “I’m not seeing very different statistics in many other countries,” he said. “I’m happy we didn’t go into lockdown. Life has to go on.”
While other countries were slamming on the brakes, Sweden kept its borders open, allowed restaurants and bars to keep serving, left preschools and grade schools in session and placed no limits on public transport or outings in local parks. Hairdressers, yoga studios, gyms and even some cinemas have remained open.
Gatherings of more than 50 people are banned. Museums have closed and sporting events have been canceled. At the end of March, the authorities banned visits to nursing homes.
That’s roughly it. There are almost no fines, and police officers can only ask people to oblige. Pedestrians wearing masks are generally stared at as if they have just landed from Mars.
The Scandinavian country introduced “trust-based” measures, advising older people to avoid social contact and recommending people wash hands, social distance, work from home where possible and avoid travel.
Anders Tegnell, the country’s state epidemiologist, has said it was “hard to understand” how implementing similar lockdown measures to other countries would have cut down on Covid-19 deaths in the Nordic nation.
Half of the country’s coronavirus deaths were in care homes, he said, where visits have already been banned.
“At least 50 per cent of our death toll is within elderly homes and we have a hard time to understand how a lockdown would stop the introduction of disease,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We already had a law making it illegal for visitors to come to elderly homes. They need constant care, they need a lot of people coming and going to take care of them.
“So it’s a bit unclear to us if a lockdown really would have stopped this from happening or not. It’s a difficult question and I don’t think we have the answer and I’m not sure we’ll ever get the answer completely.”
Mr Tegnell argued Sweden might weather a second wave of the virus better than other countries, because its measures can be kept in place for longer than the harsher lockdowns implemented throughout the world.
“We also have measures that we can keep on doing for a long time,” he said. “So I think that’s the other part of our reasoning, that we want to have something sustainable if we need to continue this suppression and mitigation that we are doing right now.
“We can go on doing this for a long time since our schools are still open, most of our society is working but on an adapted level. So if it looks like we’re going to get a second wave in the autumn with a lot of cases, we could easily continue doing what we’re doing today.”
Why the contribution is important
Sweden's model supports mental and emotional wellbeing. It respects the freedom of choice and upholds faith in our ability to make good choices. It stays away from fear mongering and so is not feeding anxiety and stress. And for those in high risk they can choose to stay home and have support from healthy people with their food etc. It is not ruining their economy.
by golightly on May 08, 2020 at 09:09PM
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