People shopping in Stockholm in November.
Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/Tt/Zuma PressA new surge of Covid-19 cases is increasing pressure on the Swedish government to further tighten restrictions, as an independent report criticized Stockholm’s policy of shunning lockdowns and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said government advisers had underestimated the threat of this autumn’s rise.
More Covid-19 patients have filled intensive-care beds in much of the Scandinavian country in recent weeks.
With a daily average of over 6,000 new cases over the past week, hospitals in virtually all of the country are under strain, Ann Söderström, Sweden’s director of health and medical care, told reporters Tuesday. In Stockholm, hospitals have nearly twice as many Covid-19 patients as they do intensive-care beds, said Bjorn Eriksson, the city’s health and medical care director.
On Monday, the country’s statistics agency said Sweden recorded 8,088 deaths from all causes last month, the second-deadliest month for the country of 10 million in its modern history, eclipsed only by the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.
In the spring, Sweden hoped the virus would spread chiefly among the young and healthy, creating herd immunity with minimal deaths.
Photo: Andres Kudacki/Associated PressThe increase in deaths and hospitalizations has already forced Sweden to set aside a policy of using voluntary measures to contain the virus, a strategy that has drawn global interest. By contrast, most European countries have used lockdowns and mandatory restrictions to contain the virus this year.
On Tuesday, Mr. Löfven said the country’s new surge had overpowered his strategy. Since Nov. 22, his government has banned gatherings of more than eight people and ordered theaters and entertainment venues closed. Last week, high schools went online.
“I think that most people in the profession didn’t see such a wave in front of them,” Mr. Löfven told the Aftenposten newspaper on Tuesday. “No one could have predicted that it would be this strong.”
Mr. Löfven is under pressure from opposition leaders and from parties in his own governing coalition to further tighten restrictions. On Monday, a government report blamed Mr. Löfven’s administration for doing too little to protect the elderly while his approach allowed the virus to spread.
“ ‘I think that most people in the profession didn’t see such a wave in front of them. No one could have predicted that it would be this strong.’ ”
“Elderly care was unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with a pandemic,” the health commission responsible for the report said in a statement. “The employees in elderly care were largely left alone to handle the crisis situation.”
Early on, Sweden hoped the virus would spread chiefly among the young and healthy, creating herd immunity with minimal deaths.
The country’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell argued that the country would eventually achieve that threshold long before a vaccine became available.
But last month, Mr. Tegnell said, “We see no signs of immunity in the population that are slowing down the infection right now.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, the European Union’s chief drug regulator is set to make a decision on Dec. 21 on whether to authorize a vaccine designed by Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech SE. Sweden says it is likely to begin vaccinating around Christmas, starting with health-care workers.
Since Monday’s official report published, several major parties, including the Social Democrats, which are part of Mr. Löfven’s governing coalition, have criticized the prime minister and asked him to adjust his strategy further.
“The overall assessment is that the Swedish strategy, regarding elderly care, has failed,” Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Social Democrats, wrote on Twitter. “It is a tragic story about how people in Sweden in 2020 died unnecessarily.”
On some counts, even without imposing a lockdown, Sweden has fared better in terms of per capita deaths than countries like Belgium, France or the U.K., that were slower than other European countries to impose restrictions.
At the same time, the Swedish economy contracted sharply, despite its approach to the pandemic. Sweden’s economy shrank by 8.5% in the first half, compared with an 11% contraction for the European Union.
Restaurants, hotels and retailers are facing more closures. Unlike in the rest of Europe, where governments coupled restrictions with generous stimulus, Swedish authorities have offered comparatively less support to businesses, because they didn’t impose closures.
Write to Drew Hinshaw at drew.hinshaw@wsj.com
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Appeared in the December 17, 2020, print edition as 'Sweden’s Voluntary Covid-19 Measures Come Under Fire.'
The Link LonkDecember 17, 2020 at 02:08AM
https://www.wsj.com/articles/swedens-covid-19-policy-comes-under-fresh-scrutiny-11608145710
Sweden’s Covid-19 Policy Comes Under Fresh Scrutiny - The Wall Street Journal
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