Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Sweden’s death toll paints a strange picture
September 6, 2020. A look at Sweden’s unique view of the coronavirus. Video / Sky News / Getty Images
When most of the world stopped when the deadly Covid-19 pandemic took hold, Sweden’s defiant position took many by surprise.
While most countries rushed to impose locks and severe restrictions in a desperate attempt to reduce transmission and deaths, the Nordic nation refused to follow suit.
Instead, in March 2020, the government adopted an unorthodox approach, which refrained from locks, travel bans, curfews and mandatory rules for face masks and instead let individuals decide how they would personally handle the risk.
As a result, while people were encouraged to work from home if possible and cut back on travel, it was only an optional suggestion, and public places such as bars and restaurants, museums and theaters remained open.
The authorities gambled on the hope that the herd immunity strategy would eventually pay off, even though it was one of only a handful of nations to adopt the risky strategy.
At first the falls exploded, but in July the daily number began to fall considerably, as did the death toll.
Then the second wave struck.
The falls began to soar again, and by the end of December 2020, it had one of the highest death rates on the continent, with 8,300 deaths out of a population of just 10 million. Sweden’s unique stance was branded a failure, with Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf that month telling local media that the country had made a serious mistake, when the nation mourned and the healthcare system was broken.
“I think we have failed. We have a large number of people who have died and that is terrible. It is something we are all suffering from,” he said.
“You think of all the family members who have not been able to say goodbye to their deceased family members.
“I think it is a heavy and traumatic experience not to be able to say a warm goodbye. The Swedish people have suffered enormously in difficult conditions.”
For a while, the situation became so difficult that the country finally but briefly introduced some Covid restrictions.
But now, almost two years into the Covid pandemic, the statistics paint a strange picture.
The latest figures show that Sweden has now had fewer deaths than most other European countries, with a lower infection rate and a thriving economy to start.
Sweden defies the odds?
According to the Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford, Sweden has had close to 1,500 deaths per million people during the pandemic – while the European average is 1,800.
The figure in the UK is much worse at 2100 despite three nationwide shutdowns, while the figures of Belgium and Italy are both above 2000.
While Sweden’s death toll is significantly higher than its neighbors Denmark, Norway and Finland – as well as New Zealand and Australia – it is much lower than in most European nations, including Belgium, Italy, Poland, Portugal, France and Greece.
Sweden is also ranked 21st out of 31 European nations in terms of excess mortality, with 5 percent more deaths than expected since March last year, and has an infection rate of 100 per million, again lower than most neighbors who followed a lockdown strategy.
The OECD also reported earlier this year that the Swedish economy is “recovering”, with an estimated GDP growth of close to 4 percent in 2021 and 3.5 percent in 2022.
Unemployment is expected to fall gradually and inflation will be below the 2% target throughout 2021 and 2022, even though it is still lagging behind its Nordic cousins ​​financially.
With the pandemic still far from over, it is probably too early to decide whether Sweden’s strategy was the right one – or not.
But in a recent opinion article for Bloomberg, Justin Fox summarizes the Swedish situation.
“In summary, Sweden stood out early in the pandemic for its public health policy, but not so much since last autumn,” he writes.
“On the whole, it does not look particularly remarkable for either its success or failure in the fight against Covid-19 or its economic performance over the past year and a half.
“Maybe it’s time to withdraw from our status as a pandemic lightning conductor.”