So far, Sweden has followed a special path in the crisis; the country is more appealing than restricting. However, the rising numbers of people infected this week are putting increasing pressure on the healthcare system. As one of the last countries in Europe, Sweden is also preparing for tougher pandemic rules.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell had already spoken of a “worrying” situation on Thursday, and now the restrictions are also increasing for the Swedes. By Friday, 333 people had died of the coronavirus, 469 people were being cared for in intensive care units.
The health authorities said on Friday that a third of the beds in intensive care units were still free. On the SVT transmitter, however, the doctor Andreas Hvarfner from the Karolinska University Hospital explained that these beds might all be needed at the weekend, so Sweden would also be at the point where doctors had to choose between life and death. Health Minister Lena Hallengren did not want to rule out the possibility that Sweden could “head for a medical disaster situation”.
“It feels like we’re sacrificed,” says a doctor
Authorities for the Stockholm region meanwhile announced the crisis mode for the hospitals. This means that doctors and nursing staff have to work up to 48 hours from now on, but also receive double salaries.
Anxiety among doctors and nurses fueled the regions’ announcement this week that the requirements for protective clothing should be softened: Long-sleeved clothing and a face mask should no longer be compulsory in all phases of treatment for corona sufferers. “It feels like we’re being sacrificed,” the newspaper quotes Dagens Nyheter a Stockholm doctor.
In Sweden, primary schools have not been closed, nor have restaurants or gyms. However, the authorities had long warned people to avoid social contacts as far as possible. The country’s major ski areas are closed from Monday.
Since Thursday, visits to old people’s homes have also been banned: infected people were found in every third old people’s home in Stockholm this week. This is bad news for the state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who declared the protection and isolation of the elderly to be the central component of his relaxed strategy. He called the diseases “unfortunate”: “This is exactly what we have tried to prevent in every possible way,” he said. Sick older people fill most beds in the intensive care units. Tegnell did not want to know anything about a change of course this week: he still thinks Sweden’s strategy is successful.
The Swedish approach is closely monitored, particularly in the neighboring countries of Scandinavia, Norway and Denmark, both of which reacted early to the disease with strict restrictions. In Norway, 54 people had died of the coronavirus by Friday, in Denmark 139. However, Sweden has twice as many inhabitants as Denmark or Norway, and although Sweden’s case numbers have been growing faster than neighboring countries for a few days, it is still unclear whether it will Infection curve in the country may be a few days ahead of the neighbors.
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