As we have been reporting since the COVID War began, Sweden did not lock down its people and the economy; they do not wear masks; and their virus death rate is lower than France, Italy, Spain, the U.K, Denmark, Belgium, and many other countries which imposed strict lockdown rules and regulations.
Last week, the WHO said other European countries may do well to look into Sweden’s coronavirus approach while much of the continent, which has employed strict lockdowns as a measure to stop the spread of the virus, is now seeing a second wave of infections.
Catherine Smallwood, Senior Emergency Officer at WHO/Europe, told the Associated Press it is important that other countries “recognize” Stockholm’s relative success. The report pointed out the country has seen 30.3 new cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks. By comparison, Spain has seen 292.2 cases.
“I think there are lessons for that,” she said. “We will be very keen on working and hearing more from the Swedish approach.”
Sweden is different from some of its neighbors because it does not mandate mask-wearing, which its health officials say encourage a false sense of security and most citizens, unlike those in much of Europe and the U.S., are an ineffective tool in preventing the disease’s transmission.
“People will not wear masks for years,” Lena Hallengren, the country’s health minister, told the AP.
Think For Yourself
Much of the credit in Sweden’s success story has been given to Anders Tegnell, the country’s chief epidemiologist, a rare health official to buck the universal approach to the virus that included economy-crushing lockdowns.
“It’s really like using a hammer to kill a fly,” Tengnell told the Financial Times.
“We don’t see it as viable to have this kind of drastic closing down, opening and closing. You can’t open and close schools. That is going to be a disaster. And you probably can’t open and close restaurants and stuff like that either too many times. Once or twice, yes, but then people will get very tired and businesses will probably suffer more than if you close them down completely,” he told the paper.
The government relied on its citizens to make responsible decisions during the outbreak that included common-sense approaches like hand-washing and staying home if you’re feeling ill.
TRENDPOST: As we have noted, in Sweden, as much of the world, over half of its virus deaths were individuals in nursing homes. Dr.Tegnell has been criticized, as have many other epidemiologists and politicians, for their slow response to prevent the virus from infecting and killing the most vulnerable sector of society.
Indeed, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, as we reported, demanded that elderly COVID-19 patients be taken out of hospitals where they were being treated and sent to nursing homes where they spread the virus.
