Is coronavirus outlier Sweden on the verge of a rules policy U-turn?
Stockholm passes lockdown law as infection and death rates continue to outstrip those of Nordic neighbours
Sweden’s “light touch” response to Covid-19 has made the Nordic country an outlier since the start of the pandemic – but all of that could be about to change.
Rising numbers of infections and related deaths in Sweden have triggered a number of small but significant policy shifts by the government, which is now considering a lockdown law that would allow the authorities to shut down large parts of the country.
In early December, the country also reversed its guidance on face masks, advising Swedes to wear them on public transport during peak travel times, and gave schools the option to close to pupils older than 13.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Although “there has been no public abandoning of its approach”, says the Financial Times, the sudden change in direction signals that “the winter Covid-19 wave has hit Sweden far harder than health officials or politicians expected”.
“I don’t think Sweden stands out [from the rest of the world] very much right now,” Jonas Ludvigsson, professor of clinical epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, told the paper. “Most of the things that made Sweden different have changed - either in Sweden or elsewhere.”
However, “inconsistencies” in Sweden’s strategy are “catching even its leaders out”, Politico reports.
After spending “much of December trying to drill into the population the idea that personal responsibility would get Sweden through the Covid crisis”, a string of government figures are in hot water after being caught ignoring guidance to “avoid traditional Yuletide venues like malls - even if they weren’t closed - and skip holidays overseas”, says the news site.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meanwhile, “Sweden is seeing around 60 to 70 deaths linked to the coronavirus per day, with a case notification rate that puts it as one of Europe's worst affected countries”, according to The Local.
The country’s intensive care beds are also filling up quickly, with “a total of 763 available places, of which 596 are occupied, 390 with Covid-19 patients, 55 more Covid-19 patients than one week ago”, the site adds.
But despite those alarming figures, Ludvigsson and Sweden’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell have both argued that their country and Europe are “coming to a unified approach” to the pandemic, says the FT.
Much of Europe is moving towards Sweden’s position on issues including the importance of keeping primary schools open, according to Ludvigsson.
“He added that most countries had also switched their goal from defeating the virus to mitigating it, which had been Sweden’s official policy throughout,” the paper adds.
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
What Mike Huckabee means for US-Israel relations
In the Spotlight Some observers are worried that the conservative evangelical minister could be a destabilizing influence on an already volatile region
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Airplane food is reportedly getting much worse
Cockroaches and E. coli are among the recent problems encountered in the skies
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: November 19, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Long Covid: study shows damage to brain's 'control centre'
The Explainer Research could help scientists understand long-term effects of Covid-19 as well as conditions such as MS and dementia
By The Week UK Published
-
FDA OKs new Covid vaccine, available soon
Speed read The CDC recommends the new booster to combat the widely-circulating KP.2 strain
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Mpox: how dangerous is new health emergency?
Today's Big Question Spread of potentially deadly sub-variant more like early days of HIV than Covid, say scientists
By The Week UK Published
-
What is POTS and why is it more common now?
The explainer The condition affecting young women
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Brexit, Matt Hancock and black swans: five takeaways from Covid inquiry report
The Explainer UK was 'unprepared' for pandemic and government 'failed' citizens with flawed response, says damning report
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Should masks be here to stay?
Talking Points New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a mask ban. Here's why she wants one — and why it may not make sense.
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Covid might be to blame for an uptick in rare cancers
The explainer The virus may be making us more susceptible to certain cancers
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Long Covid and chronic pain: is it all in the mind?
The Explainer 'Retraining the brain' could offer a solution for some long Covid sufferers
By The Week UK Published