Lars Karlsson: CapacityNow

Only Sweden had the right Covid-19 response

Only Sweden had the right Covid-19 response. We listened to our scientists, the experts responsible for public health & so did our politicians.

In this article from the Boston Globe, see below, it is asked how the COVID-19 experience would have turned out had there been no government-imposed states of emergency, no mask mandates, no orders to shelter in place, and no shutdowns of schools, restaurants, offices, and gyms?

The query isn’t hypothetical. While the United States & virtually every advanced nation did turn to lockdowns and compulsory social distancing, Sweden charted a very different course.

We now know the result of Sweden’s wager: By every important measure, Scandinavia’s most populous country weathered the pandemic with better consequences than other nations.

Most important, Sweden’s excess death rate during the three pandemic years — the increase in mortality from 2020 through 2022 compared with the loss of life during the previous three years — was lower than in any other European nation.

In Sweden we trusted our institutions with experts like, Dr. Anders Tegnell (chief epidemiologist) & Johan Giesecke, (epidemiologist & professor emeritus), who based their decisions on science & extensive expertise from having worked all around the world through SIDA & WHO – with previous crises like e.g. ebola, zika, birdflu outbursts etc.

They stood tall when other country leaders & global media directed massive critisism against the Swedish approach. They said, history will prove us right. It has. They were right.