In the Coronavirus Fight in Scandinavia, Sweden Stands Apart

More people in Sweden are being vaccinated and many of their regions still under strict Covid restrictions...

Resulting in Sweden's Covid infections on a decline although still not as good as Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland. Regions with stricter restrictions highlighted in red on the below map as of May 3rd 2021.

Here's the million dollar question...

Why do some countries have declining Covid numbers when they have restrictions while other countries have declining Covid numbers when they lift / remove their restrictions ???

Hint: v**********s

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Fifteen of Sweden's 21 regions have stricter coronavirus recommendations in place in response to local outbreaks and the spread of more infectious variants of Covid-19. Here are the things you need to do to protect the people around you.

Sweden-Covid-Restrictions.png


As of May 3rd, Blekinge, Gävleborg, Halland, Jämtland, Kalmar, Norrbotten, Stockholm, Södermanland, Uppsala, Västerbotten, Västernorrland, Västmanland, Västra Götaland, Örebro and Östergötland all had regional coronavirus measures in place, in addition to the recommendations which continue to apply everywhere in the country.

That includes calls in Uppsala and Östergötland for residents to go into a “personal lockdown” — but wherever you live in Sweden, you should not be having close contact with people outside your household or closest circle.

In addition, the Dalarna and Skåne regions have issued a recommendation for all patients and visitors to wear face masks during visits to healthcare (including doctors’ offices, dentists and hospitals), but they have not issued stricter recommendations that affect other parts of society.

Some regions have also put on hold relaxations announced by the Public Health Agency, for example saying that children and teenagers should not take part in sports matches or competitions, and that people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 should not expand their circle of close contacts.

Nationwide, everyone in Sweden should work from home if they can, and limit their close contacts to a small number of people – for example, the people you live with or a small number of friends if you live alone – among other things.

Scroll down to see what you should be doing in your region.

Which regions of Sweden have local coronavirus measures in place?

Regions marked in red have stricter local coronavirus measures in place, which vary slightly but typically include recommendations to wear a face mask on public transport and in indoor environments with potential for crowding at all times, and to avoid non-essential travel. Hover over or tap on the region to find out when the measures are in place until (note that they may be extended beyond these dates if necessary).

Sweden-Covid-Restrictions-1.png

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wrbtrader
 
It would be a combination of Variants and immunity to variants without a doubt...

Unless morons like GWB are going to claim there is no such thing as immunity to variants... while not having any data to support that statement.
 
One year and one million cases later, Sweden still has a Covid communications problem
As Sweden reaches a sad pandemic milestone, authorities still struggle to communicate both the severity of the situation and what can be done about it to the public,
https://www.thelocal.se/20210506/op...den-still-has-a-covid-communications-problem/

Clear, sustainable measures that would be easy for the public to understand and stick to long-term; that was supposed to be the hallmark of Sweden’s coronavirus strategy.

But over the past year, recommendations have often been vague or even appeared contradictory. At the time of writing, around two thirds of regions have local recommendations on top of the national ones, two of them urging people to enter a “personal lockdown”, some saying that all non-essential travel and visits to shops should be avoided, but others varying.

Unlike many countries, no consistent system regulating which measures are introduced at which point has been made public (when The Local asked in February if authorities could give examples of which specific data or metrics would be looked at to decide whether to introduce further measures, Health Minister Lena Hallengren said “No, we can’t”).

This is exacerbated by the fact that its recommendations have at many times differed significantly from those elsewhere.

Authorities did not mention social distancing until around a month after it was being enforced in much of Europe; businesses have remained open with limits on opening hours and customer hours only recently introduced; face masks were not recommended until December (and then only on weekdays in rush hour, though many regions have urged their use in all indoor environments).

More than a year ago, several experts spoke to The Local and warned of the risk of unclear communications around the coronavirus and how to curb its spread. Later in summer, columnist Lisa Bjurwald summed it up in a piece arguing “rules can’t be lagom“.

But despite law changes increasingly being used as part of Sweden’s raft of Covid-19 measures, the recommendations for private individuals remain extremely vague, left open to interpretation – for example, that people should limit social contacts by socialising only “in a smaller circle”, with “the people you normally meet”.

Leaving some room for flexibility helps people to adapt to their circumstances, for example so that people living alone aren’t isolated, but this is too open to interpretation. To some people, it could easily be read as “carry on as normal”. Although the government has, since December, pointed to eight as a suggested maximum for gatherings, the Public Health Agency has mostly steered clear from giving numbers, even as a guide.

Of course in any country you will always get people who choose not to follow guidance.

But as a starting point, the “what” and the “why” need to be clearly explained. In a situation where every individual’s actions could affect a chain of other people, it’s not enough to expect people to take responsibility without telling them what that means.

It’s not only the public that has been left confused. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was criticised for shopping trips when this was against Stockholm’s restrictions; the director of the Civil Contingencies Agency resigned (but kept his salary) after travelling to see his daughter in Spain against advice to avoid “non-necessary travel”. Despite resigning, he insisted his trip had been in line with guidance because he judged it to be “necessary”, highlighting the difficulties in delegating risk assessment to private individuals.

As well as some of the guidance being vague, at several points during the pandemic, the overall message has been dampened by restrictions being relaxed just as the incidence rate rises.

This is partly down to the slow-moving nature of Swedish bureaucracy, with no option for a peace-time state of emergency. Having checks in place is a good thing for democracy, but here it has led to mixed messaging.

Additional recommendations for over-70s and risk groups were scrapped in late October, with no corresponding tighter measures for the general population, just as cases were rising in the early second wave.

Just weeks later, the maximum number of people allowed at some seated events was raised to 300, at the same time as regions began introducing local tighter restrictions in an effort to curb the sharp rise in cases. As a result, the change to events never really took effect.

Those regional restrictions themselves have had peculiar differences between regions. In some regions, and not always those with the highest infection rates or new variants, people are told to avoid all non-essential travel, or to avoid non-essential visits to indoor public places altogether, but that doesn’t apply to other regions.

Recently, regions complained of poor timing after authorities said people who were fully vaccinated could “expand their circle of close contacts slightly”. The government and Public Health Agency later clarified that people should still limit those circles to “small groups” in line with the general recommendations, rendering the updated guidance irrelevant. Several regions have warned vaccinated people not to expand their circles.

Sweden is certainly not the only country that has struggled to get its message across in an understandable way.

Elsewhere, limits on how many people can meet and in which circumstances, when and for what purpose you can leave your home, have changed at short notice, confusing members of the public trying to keep up.

But there has to be a middle ground: clear communications, explaining simply how Covid-19 spreads, and how different measures have an impact.

Some of the clearest explanations I’ve seen are the BBC’s explanation of what’s called the Swiss cheese model (showing how no measure gives full protection, but they can work together) and interactive explanations from El Pais (in English) on how the virus spreads in indoor environments and how to reduce the risk.

State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell and others behind the strategy have been questioned repeatedly about whether it’s time for stricter measures.

The answer is generally the same: “We don’t need stricter measures, we need people to follow the measures and recommendations we have in place.”

But for that to happen, communication from authorities about what people need to do and why needs to be much, much clearer.
 
Sweden - a complete fiasco...

Sweden passes one million cases as virus spread tops EU
https://www.macaubusiness.com/sweden-passes-one-million-cases-as-virus-spread-tops-eu/

Sweden on Thursday announced it had recorded over one million cases of Covid-19, nearly a tenth of the population, as the Nordic nation struggles to rein in a third wave of the virus.

“In Sweden we now have among the highest number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe,” Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of microbiology at Sweden’s Public Health Agency, told a press conference.

Tegmark Wisell noted however that there had been a downward trend in recent weeks.

With 1,002,121 cases of the novel coronavirus recorded since the start of the pandemic, 9.85 percent of the population have contracted the virus, according to official data compiled by AFP.

The Public Health Agency published a series of projections, with the most likely scenario showing the virus spread starting to subside in mid-May before reaching “very low levels” in July and August.

The Scandinavian country has famously never imposed the type of lockdown seen elsewhere in Europe, controversially relying on mostly non-coercive measures.

It has however gradually tightened restrictions since November, including a ban on alcohol sales after 8:00 pm and on public gatherings of more than eight people.

Since March, cafes, bars and restaurants have also been required to shut their doors by 8:30 pm.

Despite being in the midst of a third wave of cases, the rise in deaths has been much slower in recent weeks, with 156 deaths in the last seven days, which authorities say is the result of the rollout of vaccines among vulnerable groups.

The total number of deaths associated with Covid-19 since the start of pandemic reached 14,158 on Thursday, putting Sweden in the middle of the pack in Europe, although well ahead of its Nordic neighbours Finland, Norway and Denmark,
 
Sweden could have avoided four in 10 Covid deaths with early lockdown
New study indicates nine-week shutdown would have prevented spread of virus
https://www.thenationalnews.com/wor...10-covid-deaths-with-early-lockdown-1.1221427

An early lockdown could have prevented nearly 40 per cent of Sweden’s coronavirus deaths in the first wave, a study suggests.

The country, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, mainly relied on social distancing and personal hygiene measures at the start of the crisis.

As Sweden stayed open, economies across Europe were put into hibernation to try and prevent the spread of the virus.

Nearly 6,000 Swedes died of Covid-19 in the first six months in the pandemic, a death rate per capita many times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours, but lower than most European countries that opted for lockdowns.

Three German economists now estimate 2,000 of those deaths could have been avoided if a nine-week lockdown had been imposed on March 15.

The group, led by Benjamin Born at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, modelled the potential effects of a lockdown by examining how infection rates changed in countries with similar outbreaks, demographics and populations. The main countries used for the comparison were Norway, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.

The analysis showed about 75 per cent of Sweden’s infections and 38 per cent of its deaths would have been prevented with a minor economic impact. The study was published in the science journal PLOS One.

Prof Gernot Muller from Tubingen University, a co-author of the study, said a lockdown during the first wave would have “lowered infections and deaths substantially”.

“But because lockdowns also come with social costs which we do not analyse, we are not taking a stand as to whether Sweden should have imposed a lockdown,” he said.

Sweden has faced three waves of infection, the latest in December and March, but Covid-19 cases are now falling.

It has registered 13,812 new cases since Friday, the latest statistics showed on Tuesday. That compares with 14,950 cases during the corresponding period last week.

The country of 10 million people has recorded 44 new deaths since Friday, taking the total to 14,217.

Restrictions including an 8.30pm closing time for restaurants and customer number limits for shops remain in place until later this month, and sports venues and public pools will remain effectively closed to visitors until then, too.
 
gwb-trading said:
Sweden could have avoided four in 10 Covid deaths with early lockdown
New study indicates nine-week shutdown would have prevented spread of virus
https://www.thenationalnews.com/wor...10-covid-deaths-with-early-lockdown-1.1221427

An early lockdown could have prevented nearly 40 per cent of Sweden’s coronavirus deaths in the first wave, a study suggests.

The country, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, mainly relied on social distancing and personal hygiene measures at the start of the crisis.

As Sweden stayed open, economies across Europe were put into hibernation to try and prevent the spread of the virus.

Nearly 6,000 Swedes died of Covid-19 in the first six months in the pandemic, a death rate per capita many times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours, but lower than most European countries that opted for lockdowns.

Three German economists now estimate 2,000 of those deaths could have been avoided if a nine-week lockdown had been imposed on March 15.

The group, led by Benjamin Born at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, modelled the potential effects of a lockdown by examining how infection rates changed in countries with similar outbreaks, demographics and populations. The main countries used for the comparison were Norway, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.

The analysis showed about 75 per cent of Sweden’s infections and 38 per cent of its deaths would have been prevented with a minor economic impact. The study was published in the science journal PLOS One.

Prof Gernot Muller from Tubingen University, a co-author of the study, said a lockdown during the first wave would have “lowered infections and deaths substantially”.

“But because lockdowns also come with social costs which we do not analyse, we are not taking a stand as to whether Sweden should have imposed a lockdown,” he said.

Sweden has faced three waves of infection, the latest in December and March, but Covid-19 cases are now falling.

It has registered 13,812 new cases since Friday, the latest statistics showed on Tuesday. That compares with 14,950 cases during the corresponding period last week.

The country of 10 million people has recorded 44 new deaths since Friday, taking the total to 14,217.

Restrictions including an 8.30pm closing time for restaurants and customer number limits for shops remain in place until later this month, and sports venues and public pools will remain effectively closed to visitors until then, too.
More...

That's a no brainer and as stated multiple times by outsiders and insiders himself like Tegnell...you measure Sweden's performance via comparison to its Scandinavian neighbours.

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.....The group, led by Benjamin Born at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, modelled the potential effects of a lockdown by examining how infection rates changed in countries with similar outbreaks, demographics and populations. The main countries used for the comparison were Norway, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands.

The analysis showed about 75 per cent of Sweden’s infections and 38 per cent of its deaths would have been prevented with a minor economic impact. The study was published in the science journal PLOS One.....

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Regardless to all the above, Sweden's vaccination is still increasing and their Covid infections / Hospitalizations / ICUs are now declining since they begin using strict restrictions about 1 - 2 months ago.

wrbtrader
 
Yeah because lockdowns worked so well in Germany they did not have second waves and so many other places... what a bunch of modeling fools. Lockdowns can work until you reopen.
 
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