The Swedish "Model" for Battling the Coronavirus
by Judith Bergman • May 9, 2020 at 5:00 am
"For a long time, Sörmlands Media has tried to get information from all the county's municipalities on how the spread of infection in elderly care looks, how extensive it is and where it is located. The municipalities have replied that they lack knowledge about the extent of the spread of infection and have said that it is also not possible to find out. — Maria Lapenkova, Svt nyheter, May 2, 2020.
Sörmland Media's review, however, shows that the information is not correct and that the municipalities actively concealed the information... Some municipalities have also failed to report the number of infected persons to the National Board of Health and Welfare's national reporting tool for orders for protective clothing. — Svt nyheter, May 2, 2020.
As of May 6, Sweden, which has a population of 10.18 million people, had 2,854 deaths, which corresponds to 280.27 deaths per million people. In comparison, the other countries of the Nordic region, Denmark, Norway and Finland, which all went on lockdown, had 503, 215 and 246 deaths respectively, corresponding to 86.76, 40.46 and 44.58 deaths per 1 million people, respectively.
"I think it's a risky business and we don't know anything about herd immunity. The only thing we know is that a lot of people have died. These are human beings, not just figures. And if we would have chosen another approach, this number would have been much smaller...You cannot take risks with people's lives if you don't know what risks you are taking". — Dr. Stefan Hanson, a Swedish infectious disease expert, The Globe and Mail, Canada, April 30-May 1, 2020.
WHO -- and the media -- might wish to reconsider using Sweden as a model.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently described Sweden as a "model" for battling the coronavirus. "I think if we are to reach a new normal, I think in many ways Sweden represents a future model of -- if we wish to get back to a society in which we don't have lockdowns," Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Emergencies Program, said. "They've been doing the testing, they've ramped up their capacity to do intensive care quite significantly," he added.
"And their health system has always remained within its capacity to respond to the number of cases that they've been experiencing... Sweden has put in place a very strong public policy around social distancing, around caring and protecting for people in long term care facilities and many other things,".
