Sweden seeing much smaller increase in cases compared to rest of Europe

[SussexDeb]

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/

No massive surge like in France, Spain, UK and Netherlands.

More and more it looks like Sweden has taken the right approach with limited restrictions. Avoiding fatigue among the public around the measures and making sure good hygiene is practiced.

Not really true

www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/cases-2019-ncov-eueea

Sweden is middling - Germany is doing slightly better, and Norway and Finland much better

I also think Germany is a better comparator for U.K., given the number of cities. Though UK population density is higher (London is 3rd most densely populated city in Europe (behind St Petersburg and Madrid) and in the top 50 in the world.

I knew Sweden did the right thing months ago.

Sweden is a completely different kind of country to the U.K. Different demographics, different population density, high proportion of single-occupancy households.

Did they do the right thing in care homes @TheLobster?

For now.
They have started going up and at the start it never looks that bad.
I'll wait before deciding they're doing so great.
Like I did in the Spring, and it turned out that they weren't so successful in terms of preventing deaths.

@TheLobster

I knew Sweden did the right thing months ago.

Interesting that not even them really share your opinion.

@GCAcademic

Sweden is a completely different kind of country to the U.K. Different demographics, different population density, high proportion of single-occupancy households.

I agree

Sweden should be compared to Norway, not the UK or France or Spain

I thought their death rates were relatively high, especially compared to their neighbours? Cases may not be increasing as fast but didn't drop as low. Also entirely different social situation. Trust in Government is high so they are much more likely to comply with social distancing without any official lockdown.

It’s too early to say, personally I think there would need to be another wave or two before Sweden approach herd immunity thresholds. I’m glad Sweden exists, it’s a different approach, so it’s interesting to have them there for comparison.

And it’s way too early to say they were wrong.

Oh and...

Sweden - 10,343,403 population - 5892 deaths - 0.057%

Scotland - 5,404,700 population - 2544 deaths - 0.047%

...no-nonsense Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t done too much better so far

Sweden again? Sweden has space, it's population is not crammed together living on top of each other like we are.

They're population are also very sensible and compliant where as we just bitch and moan and refuse to do what's best for our country as a whole.

Short answer, it's like comparing apples and a dragon.

@MummyPop00

If you look at the NRS figures for Scotland, we actually have 4600 deaths so Sturgeon has done much worse than Sweden.

Unsurprisingly the media has not covered this as we can’t have criticism of Sturgeon the great.

Are the over 70s still shielding in Sweden?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/17/sweden-considers-local-lockdowns-shift-coronavirus-strategy/

@GCAcademic

Sweden is a completely different kind of country to the U.K. Different demographics, different population density, high proportion of single-occupancy households.

Exactly, unless your approach is turning the UK into Sweden the same strategy won't work here. For example, in Sweden parents get paid to stay at home with their children when they are unwell. So no child with a cold, sore throat etc goes to nursery or school at the moment ( or at least that's what they recommend), which obviously stops the spread of Covid as well.

@ineedaholidaynow

Are the over 70s still shielding in Sweden?

They were never shielding in the same way as people were shielding here. They were just asked to stay away from others.

Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, since 01 September:
ourworldindata.org/grapher/daily-covid-cases-7-day?tab=chart&stackMode=absolute&time=2020-08-31..2020-10-16&country=DNK~NOR~SWE~FIN&region=World

@SussexDeb

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/

No massive surge like in France, Spain, UK and Netherlands.

More and more it looks like Sweden has taken the right approach with limited restrictions. Avoiding fatigue among the public around the measures and making sure good hygiene is practiced.

Whenever I look Sweden is only ever a couple of places lower than us on deaths per million.

We were 10th worst and they were 12th worst last time I checked.

A good friend is Swedish but has lived here for yrs. The culture is different & so is population density so not a great comparison. Plus they made mistakes with care homes.

Also they get huge amounts of sick pay in comparison to the UK, more allowances for sick children.
It's not the lack of restrictions that have caused it to do better than us - it's all the other stuff that actually enables people to self isolate and cooperate with the rules.

But I assume @Frequentcarpetflyer that would have an impact of death rates if they are not mixing with others.

Also have they reopened sixth forms/universities?

Their society set up is different. It's like when posters said back in April we need to be more like China.

I wonder if seeing the protests, refusals to wear masks, distrust of the app here etc can now help them understand why we can't be compared to Chinese society. I would have thought it was obvious but hey ho.

@ineedaholidaynow

But I assume *@Frequentcarpetflyer* that would have an impact of death rates if they are not mixing with others.

Also have they reopened sixth forms/universities?

Yes they have. i don't know about every single college or university, but as far as I know a lot of the teaching at university is online. Only small group teaching when they have face to face teaching (with tables spaces out) no big student parties etc. Don't go out if you have any sign of a runny nose, sore throat, cough etc.

Sweden’s cities are just as dense as UK cities.

Stockholm: 11802 per square mile
London: 15328

Gothenburg 3400
Birmingham 3649

Malmo: 4049
Manchester: 2204

Can we stop pretending Swedes live spaced out in the woods.