Sweden no longer stands out in a pandemic, says the architect behind the policy for “no lockdown”.
Sweden no longer stands out in the pandemic, according to the country’s chief epidemiologist who advocated its unique approach in the early stages of the crisis, as the Scandinavian nation prepares for an increase in new cases and hospital stays.
Anders Tegnell told the Financial Times that the sharp increase in cases in neighboring countries such as Denmark and Germany, especially among the unvaccinated, was “definitely worrying and we really take it very seriously”.
But the architect behind the policy of not having a formal lockdown emphasized that Sweden had one of the lower levels of mortality in Europe, while in other pandemic measures it was closer to the average.
“Now we have two years into this and Sweden does not really stand out. We are not the best, but we are definitely not the worst. That’s what I’re hearing now: how much good all of these did draconian [measures] do for someone? “
Tegnell’s strategy at an early stage of the crisis is facing growing criticism in Sweden. The official commission investigating the country’s response has criticized slow reaction at the beginning of 2020 and noted that Sweden allowed the virus to spread faster than other Nordic countries. But the Commission will not comment on the wisdom of the strategy without a formal lockdown until next year.
Mattias Karlsson, former leader of the populist Sweden Democrats, told FT that Tegnell was “completely wrong” on several issues and that the verdict against him would be “very harsh”. He added: “Especially in the early stages of the pandemic, there were many things we could have done that would have made a difference.”
But Tegnell himself is not apologetic. He emphasized that “Sweden closed enormously” despite the lack of a formal lockdown. It had empty streets for much of 2020 and almost no cases of flu and other respiratory diseases because people worked from home and avoided travel and social contact, he said.
While his employer, the Swedish Public Health Agency and others were still evaluating the commission’s reports, he said there was still little agreement on what worked against Covid-19 other than vaccinations.
“What they are not talking about is what kind of things made a difference. That is what we are still struggling to understand. Some measures sometimes work in some places, but it is very difficult to see a clear pattern,” he added.
Sweden’s current infection rate is lower than large parts of Central and Eastern Europe, but higher than France, Spain and Italy. Tegnell said that Sweden tended to have a rebound in cases later than others and that he strongly believed that the latest increase would continue in the coming months.
He stressed that the authorities must look closely at where the virus spread most rapidly this winter and take focused action accordingly.
“Do we need to close restaurants? Do we need to close theaters? Do we need to tell people to work a little more from home again? Because of these total closures of everything, I do not think there will be any greater acceptance for it anymore,” he says.
The Swedish government took a more active role in the pandemic during the second covid-19 wave in December and January, and introduced new restrictions that moved the country closer to the rest of Europe, just as a large part of the EU followed Stockholm in refusing to close schools in newer outbreaks.
And while Sweden has fared better than many European countries during the pandemic, it has fared worse than all its Nordic neighbors. Tegnell claimed that Sweden was more different from those like Norway and Finland because it had more migrants outside the EU and more poorer people.
– Swedish society is very different from society in Norway and Finland, which we tend to ignore because we share a long history together and have similar languages. Covid does not care about history or language, it cares about socio-economic status or migrant background or cramped living. This is where Sweden stands out in the Nordic context, but not so much in the EU context, he says.