While the whole of Europe has an increasing amount of corona cases, it is still quiet in Sweden. The trend in Sweden seems clear: the amount of corona infections that are added every day is decreasing, where it is increasing in the Netherlands. Still, there is criticism, and pretending that things are going in the right direction now may turn out to be naive.
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Not worried
The Swedish government is not concerned about a possible second wave of corona infections and will not take additional measures. Nele Brusselaers, an epidemiologist at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, criticizes the Swedish approach. There are still very few additional measures, such as a mouth mask obligation in public places and in healthcare. “There are very few imposed measures in Sweden, except for example the distance rule. But many Swedes are on vacation for three to five or six weeks. Those vacationers will be back next week. I did not expect the number of infections in Sweden to increase already. The number of infections can also be taken with a grain of salt, because mass testing is still not being used. ‘
Few hard measures
In recent months, Sweden has announced few tough measures. It was earlier about advice given to the Swedish population. The most important was that cafes and schools were allowed to remain open during the heyday of the epidemic. As a result, there has been a spread of controlled dispersion that has resulted in more people building up immunity ‘, says Koen Verhelst, correspondent in Sweden. With no second wave yet to appear and the Swedes opening up their society again, it appears that immunity has indeed been built.
Anders Tegnell
The approach of the Swedish Jaap van Dissel, the epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, therefore seems to have worked. “He became a kind of freedom fighter in Europe. He was hailed as someone who continued to fight for a free economy. After that it became a bit more negative because a lot of elderly people died. Now he is regaining interest because it appears that his approach has worked. “
Watchful
The Swedes are still vigilant against returning Swedes from Southern Europe. More tests are announced. There are also results from the surveys on places where Swedes should be more vigilant, such as crowded neighborhoods and residential care centers.
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