Aug 29, 2020 20:00:00

I still can't say that Sweden's new Corona 'population immunity' strategy was a failure, why?

Sweden has taken the policy of aiming to acquire 'collective immunity' while maintaining the economy without implementing the lockdown implemented in the United States and European countries as a countermeasure against new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). .. As a result, although it suffered more seriously than the neighboring countries, some said that it was too early to evaluate the failure.

Sweden eschewed lockdowns.It's too early to be certain it was wrong

https://theconversation.com/sweden-eschewed-lockdowns-its-too-early-to-be-certain-it-was-wrong-143829

According to a survey by the Worldometer research firm, the death toll of COVID-19 per million in Sweden was 575 at the time of writing, the eighth highest mortality rate in the world.

In Denmark, the neighboring country of Sweden, the number of deaths per 1 million people is 108, which is the 52nd place out of 215 countries in the world, and the damage is small compared to Sweden. The number of deaths per million people in Japan was 9, which was 137th out of 215 countries in the world.

One of the reasons why Sweden has adopted a 'population immunity strategy' while doing so much damage has been to avoid the financial damage that lockdowns would cause. However, according to a

study published by the University of Copenhagen in Denmark in May 2020 (PDF file) , Denmark, which underwent a severe lockdown, reduced total consumer spending by 29%, while Sweden, which did not Total spending has also decreased by 25%.

This led researchers at the University of Copenhagen to say, 'A pandemic has significantly reduced consumer spending, even without significant restrictions on economic activity as in Sweden. Even so, I don't think the decline in total spending would be as great as it would have been if the economy were not stopped, as in Sweden.'

Given that economic damage is high, even though we have not prioritized the economy and performed lockdown, it seems natural to think that Sweden's COVID-19 measures have failed. But Professor Andreas Altman of the University of New South Wales, Australia, believes that conclusion is too early.

What Mr. Oltmann noted in his evaluation of Sweden's countermeasures against COVID-19 is that the number of deaths from COVID-19 is sharply decreasing. Below is a graph of daily COVID-19 deaths in Sweden . After reaching the peak in mid-April, you can see that it is decreasing in a straight line toward zero.

On the other hand, the arrival of the second wave is noticeable in

Australia, which has carried out a very strict lockdown.

``So far, Sweden has the eighth highest mortality rate in the world,'' said Ortmann, who said the death toll at COVID-19 in Sweden is declining rapidly. By the time statistical numbers come out clearly, we may not even be in the top 20 countries.'

In addition, the EU's GDP in the second quarter of 2020 contracted 12.1% from the previous quarter, while Sweden's GDP contracted only 8.6% from the previous quarter. Shows that it may be relatively small.

With this in mind, Altman said, 'It's still time to figure out how Sweden's approach to COVID-19 will be compared to other countries that have locked down.' I concluded.