I feel like I am living in a nightmare, I thought of all the countries I could live during a major health crisis, Sweden would be the safest, because they base their actions on science.
I could not have been MORE wrong.
In case some Swedes want to comment and claim how great the Swedish government is handling this... I’m sorry, I’m siding with the OTHER 99% of the healthcare experts in the WORLD, who believe that Sweden is acting in a reckless manner.
On March 23rd The Guardian posted this piece:
Swedish PM warned over 'Russian roulette-style' Covid-19 strategy
Health experts ‘deeply concerned’ about Sweden’s response
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, has denied the country’s approach is to rapidly build group immunity to the virus, a tactic seemingly pursued in Britain and the Netherlands until both recently changed tack after warnings that their health systems could be overwhelmed and death tolls would soar.
But Tegnell conceded to the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper last week that such an objective was “not contradictory” with what he described as the government’s core strategy, which was to ensure “a slow spread of infection, and that the health services have a reasonable workload”.
in this piece numerous health experts are quoted:
Swedish health professionals are increasingly expressing concern that the government may be favouring the health of the economy over that of the public. Leading experts last week were fiercely critical of the Swedish public health authority in an email thread seen by state broadcaster SVT, accusing it of incompetence and lack of medical expertise.
Marcus Carlsson, a mathematician at Lund University, has published YouTube videos arguing that there is no evidence of a “herd immunity” approach controlling a virus outbreak anywhere in the world. He described the government’s approach as “a mad experiment with 10 million people”.
Tegnell and Löfven were “playing Russian roulette with the Swedish population,” Carlsson said. “At least if we’re going to do this as a people … lay the facts on the table so that we understand the reasons. The way I am feeling now is that we are being herded like a flock of sheep towards disaster.”
A week that piece was posted, OVER 2,000 Professors and various healthcare professionals around Sweden petitioned the government to enact more stringent requirements.
2,000 in a country that is 36 times fewer in population than the USA, that would be equal to 72,000 healthcare professionals petitioning the US government.
as @ohnoella posted in a different diary, I felt I should add to mine.
Your view is not shared by many the health professionals in Sweden:
At the end of March, 2,300 doctors, scientists and academics signed an open letter to the government calling for stricter measures.
“We think there is no scientific evidence for their strategy,” says Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér, an expert in microbial pathogenesis who signed the letter. She says the government has been reluctant to share its data with scientists, leading her to believe that the government’s strategy is “not based on evidence.”
And, from the same article in Time:
A head doctor at a major hospital in Sweden says the current approach will “probably end in a historical massacre.” He says healthcare workers at his hospital who have tested positive for the virus but are asymptomatic have been advised to continue working. He asked to remain anonymous because “it is frowned upon to speak of the epidemic or to go against the official vision” but said he felt a need to speak out from an “ethical and medical point of view.”
It is worth reading the full article here time.com/…
That petition was ignored.
Today, I took a look at what the Swedish Health Authority says on it’s website, this is what I found was very disturbing.
From the Swedish Public Health Agency:
the Swedish Public Health Authority:
If one person in a family is ill, does the whole family need to stay at home?
No, as long as siblings or other members of the family do not show symptoms of disease they can go to school, preschool or their workplace. In families where one or more people are ill, it is very important to be alert to any signs of illness.
Cough and sneeze into your elbow
If you feel unwell with cold symptoms, cough or fever, you should try to avoid contact with other people. Do not go to work, school or pre-school. This applies even if you only feel slightly unwell. It is important that you do not risk infecting others.
How about this:
Modes of transmission
Can the virus be transmitted during the incubation period?
Available data shows that the coronavirus spreads when patients are ill with symptoms and around the time of falling ill.
From what we know now, transmission does not seem to occur during the incubation period, i.e. the time between contracting the virus and developing symptoms. Those that have been exposed to COVID-19 should pay attention to any early signs of illness.
Can Covid-19 spread from a person who is infected but does not experience any symptoms?
There are reports of transmission of COVID-19 from people without any symptoms of illness.
However, only a few studies describe the role of this type of transmission is relation to the overall spreading of COVID-19 in the community.
Based on the available knowledge about COVID-19 and similar diseases, the current understanding is that this route of transmission represents a minor part.
This is absolutely INCORRECT, in fact it has been suggested that up to 70% of transmissions are during the incubation period or by an asymptomatic carrier.
Jesus… that is the exact OPPOSITE of what epidemiologists around the world have been saying:
Asymptomatic Carriers Are Fueling the COVID-19 Pandemic. Here’s Why You Don’t Have to Feel Sick to Spread the Disease
Many COVID-19 cases are thought to be mild, and infected individuals with mild or no reported symptoms are still contagious and capable of spreading the virus. Plus, the virus has a long incubation period, with many people not showing symptoms for an average of five days after infection. Together, these two factors result in a lot of people who are infected and spreading the virus without knowing it.
Let’s look at some numbers:
Population / Deaths
Sweden = 10.2 million with 946 DEATHS
Denmark = 5.6 mil = 285 deaths
Norway = 5.4 mil = 133 deaths
Finland = 5.5 mil = 59 deaths
Together they have 477 deaths
Denmark, Norway, Finland combined population of 16.5 million / 1.6 times the population of Sweden
with a total of 477 deaths
again, Sweden has 946 death, as of April 13th.
Just for comparison sake, March 29th, there had been 121 deaths in Sweden.
Sweden has 2 times the populations of each of those 3 countries
Sweden has 3.32 times the death rate as Denmark
Sweden has 7.11 times the number of deaths as Norway
Sweden has 16.03 times the number of deaths as Finland
I would love to provide the numbers of those infected, but the numbers are trash, they are totally inaccurate due to the fact that Sweden is ONLY testing people who are sick enough to be admitted into the hospital, so the confirmed case numbers that you see on any page are worthless.
Whenever I say something negative about how Sweden is handling this, I get accused of posting FAKE NEWS!!!! or, that I just don’t understand, Sweden is applying the Herd Immunity Model.
For one, you can’t base herd Immunity on a virus nobody knows anything about, this is NOT the flu, as many in Swedish government have claimed. Most obvious reason you can’t model after herd immunity is that so far there have been many cases where the people tested positive again long after recovering from Covid-19.
The Incorrect Assumption Behind Sweden's COVID-19 Strategy
Sweden has chosen a nearly unique path through the COVID-19 pandemic, one that is raising eyebrows around the world. The official story is that our strategy is unique because we are a unique country, with high levels of trust in experts and the government. But unfortunately the truth seems to be that our strategy is based on an incorrect assumption. One that will cost us dearly.
Perhaps you think it’s safest to assume the draconian measures in Wuhan had no effect? And if you do make that assumption, then what would you think stopped the outbreak there? Well, the classic epidemiological answer is herd immunity: enough people became infected and immune, thereby preventing the virus from spreading further.
Wuhan City has a population of approximately 11.8 million. About 50 000 people there tested positive for COVID-19 before the outbreak was largely over (Mizumoto 2020). That’s just 0.5% of the population. So how could Wuhan City possibly have reached herd immunity so quickly? Well, it’s well known that there are asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. If large enough a portion of those infected are asymptomatic or have only very mild symptoms, then a majority of the population could possibly have been infected, while only 50 000 needed care. That would make the severity of a COVID-19 epidemic roughly comparable to a severe influenza, and this seems to be exactly what Sweden’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell believes. On March 16 he claimed that 90-95% of those infected would hardly notice their illness. On March 26 he madea similar but even more optimistic claim on a Swedish newscast. His predecessor Johan Giesecke has said that he believes COVID-19 is like a severe seasonal flu, and that he believes that Wuhan reached herd immunity. Anders Tegnell’s right hand man, vice state epidemiologist Anders Wallensten, has said that he doesn’t think it’s necessary to take the lockdown measures into account when interpreting the data from Wuhan.
Please, take the time to read that piece, it is brilliant and well sourced.
What I have found so stunning in all this is that the Left Wing in Sweden overnight started sounding much like Trump supporters and the Right Wing in Sweden sound just like Left Wing Democrats, it is like being in upside down bizzaro world.
Lastly, here’s a video from a YouTuber that is pretty controversial in Sweden, but due to lack of LEFT Wing sources and videos on what is going on in Sweden, and his heavy use of sourced quotes, I will post this video, please, understand, I don’t side with him on everything he says, but on this virus, he is 100% correct.
I wouldn’t post this if it wasn’t so informative.
It is crazy to push herd immunity, because they don't know if people can be reinfected. Too many unknowns with this new virus. I get the feeling that Anders Tegnell, the Swedish Head of Epidemiology is both ignorant and arrogant, and when a person like that is in charge, it can be deadly for a country.
As of right now, I am pissed off, and feel like I’m being used as a human guinea pig in a mad experiment, along with 10.2 MILLION other people in Sweden.
I fall into a high risk group, this virus would most likely kill me, this is just not OK, I feel like the Swedish government has decided I am expendable, along with the elderly, and others in high risk groups.
If the Swedish government wanted to leave the country open for business, they should have done as South Korea, mass testing, mass tracking, mass tracing… quarantine those who are sick, and map out all the locations where people have been found infected.
Also, they should not have lied to the public about modes of transmission, that is inexcusable.
That would have been a much better response than doing nothing at all. Now, most likely over 1,000 people are dead, and it was due to recklessness on the part of the Swedish government, that is simply not OK.
There are a few responsible ways to handle this, and Sweden didn’t exercise any of those options.
Comments are closed on this story.