Sweden’s PM Rebuked as Covid Deaths Ignite Political Anger https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ebuked-as-covid-deaths-ignite-political-anger The prime minister of Sweden was forced to defend his Covid-19 strategy after opposition parties mounted a scathing attack on his government amid signs its handling of the pandemic has been fatally flawed. With one of the world’s highest Covid mortality rates and Sweden’s chief epidemiologist admitting mistakes, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was the target of a series of rebukes during a debate among party leaders broadcast on Sunday night. Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the main opposition party known as the Moderates, said “there have been obvious, fundamental failures” in Sweden’s response to the pandemic. Until now, lawmakers in Sweden had observed a tacit political truce when discussing the country’s Covid strategy. But that all changed last week, when state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell acknowledged that some of his decisions may have been misguided. Since the virus hit, Tegnell has advised the government to leave most of society open, on an assumption that doing so would be more sustainable in the long run. Even more controversially, he has argued against using face masks, pointing to what he’s characterized as a lack of evidence that such coverings are effective. But at 4,694 deaths as of Monday, Sweden’s Covid mortality rate is now among the highest per capita in the world, and many times higher than in the other Scandinavian countries. Lofven acknowledged that there was room for improvement, but said there’s no reason to abandon Sweden’s approach. “The strategy is the right one,” he said during the debate on Sunday. Tegnell has also insisted his strategy remains appropriate. At a press briefing on Monday, he said a growing number of Swedes now have mild cases of the virus. That means Sweden will see “more cases for a period, but in the long term we will have better control of the pandemic,” he said, according to Dagens Industri. Pressure is mounting on Lofven as Sweden’s response to the virus puts it on a dramatically different path from countries that adopted much tougher lockdowns. Swedes suddenly find themselves facing travel restrictions in the European Union due to the high infection rate in their country. A poll last week showed that Swedes’ confidence in their government’s handling of the pandemic plunged by almost 20 percentage points since April, to less than half the population. The figures suggest that political gains Lofven had made between November and May are unlikely to stick. Lofven’s opponents are now seizing the moment to insist on change. On Sunday, the leader of the populist Sweden Democrats party demanded that Tegnell be fired. Ebba Busch, leader of the opposition Christian Democrat party, criticized Lofven for a lack of leadership. “The Swedish government has deliberately allowed a large spread of the disease,” Busch said. “In a difficult crisis, we will always be leaderless as long as this government is in power.”
one of the sites consistently running the the anti Swedish propaganda... its disgusting that you keep posting this crap. many of us have protested against the shutdown... do you post that everyday? If Sweden was not locked down... and they are so irresponsible... explain this result....
I guess you view nearly every news outlet now as running anti-Swedish propaganda -- including all the Swedish papers. Are you denying the content of the Bloomberg article stating that the PM was rebuked. You're really going to hate it when they are sent packing.
When you are a politician that implements a policy that BOTH kills more people than capita than nearby countries and tanks your economy --- yeah that's when you will be called out for your leadership failures politically.
everything you write is binary horsehit.... 1. we don't know how their economy will do vs the rest of Europe until this is over. 2. from the data we have... Sweden seems to have had the same results as many other European countries and they did not shut down. We are not going to know who did better until we see if there is a second wave. but if you look at the data with an honest eye...; you have to be saying to yourself... how come they are not the worst by far at the moment? They told us Sweden was going to get destroyed by Covid.... its not really happening. They have done a worse than some nations and better others... without a lockdown. Why? How?
GWB you dumb lying Covid Frightened bastard... WHO says the data gathered from testing and tracing shows asymptomatic people very rarely spread the virus. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/asy...-arent-spreading-new-infections-who-says.html Hence the low risk... healthy group should never have been shutdown. Sweden and Mr. Tegnell had it right once the protected the high risk group.
According to every news outlet Trump colluded with Russia. How many times can these people lie to you before you wake up?
When every single news outlet is reporting the exact words that the politicians said -- then this can be taken as a fact of the politician's spoken statements. Bloomberg is merely reporting the exact same news as the other outlets -- which is simply transcribing the statements to the media.
This is proper journalism even though it is an opinion piece..... I don't agree with everything written here but this is not propganda. Tt is useful to someone who wants to come up to speed and think for themselves. This was what newspaper were filled with, even the New York Times and Washington post, before they became Pravda for the establishment. https://www.haaretz.com/science-and...d-from-the-swedish-coronavirus-case-1.8903160 Opinion Sweden Is the Key Coronavirus Case in Preparing for a Second Wave As is true of every country, Sweden has advantages and disadvantages in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic STOCKHOLM - In the final analysis the Swedes will disappoint everyone. Those who claim that their own government's reaction to the coronavirus pandemic was hysterical, because "in Sweden it's business as usual," have yet to discover how little they knew about business in Sweden. Even those who claim that countries that opted for a lockdown saved numerous lives, as opposed to the Swedes who are dying in the thousands, will discover that the numbers are misleading and confusing. Both groups will be forced to find another source to prove their arguments. Last week, for example, headlines worldwide declared that the Swedes admit their mistake and that their model for dealing with COVID-19 has collapsed. The headlines were incorrect. The Swedish authorities are still adhering to their initial strategy, and the presumed admission of a mistake was a general statement that was taken totally out of context. But Sweden has long since become a punching bag for those justifying the lockdown policy as well as an exemplar for those who oppose it. Meanwhile, in the real world, the situation is more complex. First it should be noted that it is not business as usual in Sweden – high schools and universities have switched to distance learning, most of the cultural, entertainment and sports venues are closed, and residents were asked to work from home, maintain social distancing and avoid traveling. Although most of the restrictions are only recommendations, it can be proven that most Swedes observe them meticulously, Despite that, the elementary school and preschools did not close, no lockdown was imposed and there is no obligation to wear a mask. These are examples of controversial policies, which may turn out to be more damaging than beneficial. It is definitely possible that the Swedish government is wrong, but the claim that it is practicing “human experimentation” could be directed to all the other governments too. In times of coronavirus uncertainty steps such as isolating asymptomatic patients, prohibiting swimming in the sea and closing places of business are also a gamble. It’s clear to everyone that they all cause social, economic and health-related damage, but it is still unknown if and to what extent these steps limit the spread of the virus. People enjoy the sunny weather at a garden cafe at Djurgarden in Stockholm, Sweden May 26, 2020.Credit: TT NEWS AGENCY/ REUTERS As is true of every country, Sweden has advantages and disadvantages in dealing with the pandemic. The advantages include: an efficient public sector, a good health care system, a sparse population and a large number of single-person households (about 40 percent of households). And on the other hand, the Swedish population is very elderly (about 20 percent are aged 65 and above), the country has open borders and a cold climate, and about one fifth of the population was born outside the country – and therefore has less trust in the authorities and limited access to their directives. There is therefore a limit to our ability to learn from the terrible figure – about 4,500 dead. Even if we ignore the differences in the way countries count their dead, and complex data such as overall and excess mortality – it is hard to compare young countries with elderly ones, hot countries with cold ones, and open and closed countries. Although Worldometer charts have become a morbid sport of body counts and patriotic wrestling matches, it is doubtful whether we can learn from counting the dead about the degree of effectiveness in a country’s handling of the pandemic, and especially the effectiveness of lockdowns. Heading the charts are Belgium, Spain, Italy, England and France – countries which imposed a lockdown, and occasionally adopted tough measures to enforce it. They are followed by Sweden, without a lockdown and with a “soft policy.” And then come the rest of the countries, which have various ways of dealing with the problem. There are countries that imposed a lockdown and have a high mortality rate (Belgium), there are countries with a lockdown and a low mortality rate (Israel), countries without a lockdown and a high mortality rate (Sweden) and some without a lockdown and a low mortality rate (Iceland). And of course there are also differences between one city and the next in the same country. People enjoying themselves in a park in Stockholm last month. Sweden never claimed it was striving for herd immunity.Credit: AFP Thousands Defy Pandemic Ban to Join Stockholm Protest Over U.S. Police Violence UPDATE 2-Sweden Should Have Done More Against Coronavirus but Broad Strategy Right - Chief Epidemiologist Health Ministry Is Only Seeing the Tip of Israel's Coronavirus Iceberg Why then have so many died in Sweden? At this point it seems that the failure is not related to the failure to impose a lockdown. There is no evidence of a significant contribution by schools or shopping centers to the spread of the pandemic. But there is evidence of a different failure – the treatment of the elderly. Although the handling of senior citizens’ homes was problematic all over the world, in Sweden the situation was especially grave. Recently it was revealed that due to power struggles among the authorities, the personnel were not prepared, there was a lack of equipment and the ban on visits was belated. And yes, although Sweden is a developed welfare state, in the years when the seeds of the failure were sown it suffered from another plague: privatization, cutbacks and reforms in the public sector. Today, as opposed to the situation in the past, senior citizens’ homes in Stockholm lack work slots, equipment and skilled manpower. This is another example of the helplessness of the “invisible hand” when it comes to managing crises and protecting the weak. Is it true, as has been claimed, that Sweden gave up on its elderly for the sake of the economy? Definitely not. First of all, public health is managed by an independent authority, which is not subject to economic considerations. Second, the Swedish economy is export-oriented. Initial investigations have shown that the blow to Sweden did not differ greatly from that of its neighbors. In Sweden too there was a decline in consumption, growth was harmed and unemployment increased. Even if local businesses remained open, Volvo cannot manufacture vehicles when there is interference in the supply chains and demand plummets, and H&M cannot sell clothing when factories and malls the world over are closed. Not to mention the tourism industry. Policymakers knew that and did not waste time on attempts to prevent the blow, but instead channeled money to reduce the damage it caused. Even more serious is the claim that the Swedes tried to save the economy by achieving herd immunity, because initial examinations demonstrated that Sweden is very far from that objective. But Sweden has never claimed that it was aiming at herd immunity – on the contrary, it vehemently denied that. The objectives were to flatten the curve of the number of patients and to protect the populations at risk. The first objective was achieved: intensive care beds and ventilators were ready for use at all times – an impressive achievement, because there was no need for a ruinous lockdown. In the case of the second objective, the Swedes themselves admit failure. Those using the example of Sweden would do well to stop looking at the country for proof for their arguments, and to try to think what can be learned from the Swedish case. In the final analysis, this is not a theoretical exercise, it is an essential preparation for the second wave