Sweden: The Unfinished Experiment

WEDEN An Unfinished Experiment Phelan Chatterjee has been keeping a diary about his experience living under Sweden’s unique coronavirus response. “Official advice tells anyone not ‘vulnerable’ to stay home only if symptomatic, and to socially distance when out,” wrote Chatterjee, a video producer for the Associated Press who is normally based in London. “We’re not actively seeking herd immunity, they say. But equally, we don’t want to suppress the virus by locking down, testing and tracing.” Scholars writing in Foreign Affairs magazine praised the Scandinavian country’s strategy, which asked seniors and Swedes with preexisting conditions to remain in lockdown to avoid infection while allowing everyone else to follow the relatively laissez-faire precautions that Chatterjee described. “To visit Sweden now is to enter a strange land where people can just hang out together,” a CNN correspondent said in a video. But the Independent reported that Sweden now has the highest death rate in the world from Covid-19, almost 10 percent, and four times as much as its Nordic neighbors. Defenders of the Swedish policy said the country’s relatively homogenous demographics, high levels of social trust, excellent healthcare system, strong sense of personal responsibility and similar characteristics would help the country weather the crisis. Those arguments were bunk, countered Wired magazine. That’s why Denmark and Norway, whose Nordic cultures resemble Sweden’s, and have deep ties to their neighbors, have opted to restrict Swedes from visiting their countries when they open their borders to outsiders on June 15, the BBC wrote. They’ll likely remain unwelcome through August. In making that rule, the Danes and Norwegians were following European Union guidance: It suggested countries with similar rates of coronavirus infections should open their borders first before a continent-wide reopening lets citizens travel without restrictions between numerous countries, Politico wrote. Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde viewed the prohibitions as politically motivated rather than based on sound health advice, according to Reuters. Alternatively, Norwegian officials, who have done an excellent job of curbing the spread of the virus, have publicly wondered whether they went too far in shutting down and should have been more like Sweden, wrote the Telegraph. The Norwegian economy has lost billions while few citizens have immunity to the virus. Sooner or later, Norway will need to open up. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. Meanwhile, many Swedes weren’t on board with their country’s relaxed policy, either. Under pressure from opposition parties, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven recently announced an inquiry into his response to the coronavirus. On the inquiry’s agenda will be questions about why half of the country’s deaths have occurred in nursing homes, Reuters reported. Sweden’s experiment is scary. And it’s not over yet.