Coronavirus in Sweden
Sep 1, 2020, 6:29 am
#1021
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As cases are going up in almost all countries, one thing that is different are the hospitalizations and death rates, which are significantly lower compared to Spring when cases for example in France were similar to where they are right now but death rates were extremely high.
Is this mostly due to the fact that the majority affected are currently younger people and is any country looking at different ways of dealing with the current situation due to the "new development"?
I am just really curious and maybe some of you here, especially from Europe, might have some information from your local news outlets.
Following news outlets like the BBC, France24 etc, it's the usual information about how dramatic the new increases are and they make it sound like borders are closing soon again and they might but hopefully there will be better wasy to live with the situation, even with the current increases.
Is this mostly due to the fact that the majority affected are currently younger people and is any country looking at different ways of dealing with the current situation due to the "new development"?
I am just really curious and maybe some of you here, especially from Europe, might have some information from your local news outlets.
Following news outlets like the BBC, France24 etc, it's the usual information about how dramatic the new increases are and they make it sound like borders are closing soon again and they might but hopefully there will be better wasy to live with the situation, even with the current increases.
France won't shut down even as COVID-19 infections surge across Europe
- Europe’s economies were decimated by the crisis in the second quarter and governments are desperate to foster a swift recovery without triggering a broad new wave of the disease. The uptick in cases in recent weeks has been blamed on social gatherings and travelers, but officials are reluctant to resort to the strict lockdowns imposed during the initial peak of the pandemic in March and April.
“We cannot shut down the country, because the collateral damage of confinement is considerable,” Macron, who hosts German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks on Thursday, said in an interview with Paris Match magazine. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, meanwhile, is on vacation with his family and hasn’t come out to address the public even as bad news piles up.
Governments across Europe are tightening restrictions to combat the spread. In France, masks must now be worn in busy outdoor areas of Paris and Marseilles. Toulouse will require general mask-wearing starting August 21, Agence France-Presse reported, the first large French city to do so. -
- In Sweden, the government’s decision to adopt a light-touch strategy to tackle the pandemic pushed its death toll per capita many times higher than in the rest of the Nordic region. However, the situation improved dramatically in July. The pace of infections in the country is now converging with those of neighboring Denmark and Norway, where governments are telling citizens to use face masks for the first time.
- Europe’s economies were decimated by the crisis in the second quarter and governments are desperate to foster a swift recovery without triggering a broad new wave of the disease. The uptick in cases in recent weeks has been blamed on social gatherings and travelers, but officials are reluctant to resort to the strict lockdowns imposed during the initial peak of the pandemic in March and April.
“We cannot shut down the country, because the collateral damage of confinement is considerable,” Macron, who hosts German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks on Thursday, said in an interview with Paris Match magazine. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, meanwhile, is on vacation with his family and hasn’t come out to address the public even as bad news piles up.
Governments across Europe are tightening restrictions to combat the spread. In France, masks must now be worn in busy outdoor areas of Paris and Marseilles. Toulouse will require general mask-wearing starting August 21, Agence France-Presse reported, the first large French city to do so. -
- In Sweden, the government’s decision to adopt a light-touch strategy to tackle the pandemic pushed its death toll per capita many times higher than in the rest of the Nordic region. However, the situation improved dramatically in July. The pace of infections in the country is now converging with those of neighboring Denmark and Norway, where governments are telling citizens to use face masks for the first time.
Sep 1, 2020, 7:28 am
#1023
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Social disruption in Sweden can be measured in substantial part by economic measures. Sweden's drop in 2nd quarter GDP -- the worst period for pandemic death counts in the Scandinavian region -- was materially worse than its Scandinavian neighbors.
The badly hit 2nd quarter's damage in economic terms as per reported on August 25th:
Sweden's GDP, -8.6%
Denmark's GDP, -7.4%
Norway's GDP, -6.3%
A bit after Norway released its initial GDP figure on August 25th, Sweden quickly revised its own GDP drop to -8.3%.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2005.04630.pdf
For social disruption, a comparative survey was done across a variety of countries. It's to be noted that more than 70% of Swedes said the pandemic situation had seriously changed their life; that is a far higher proportion of the population saying that than was the case in all other surveyed countries except South Korea, a country that took a very different approach than Sweden.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/27/w...ntl/index.html
Sweden's virus toll on the health and lives of its population in comparison to its neighbors is already well covered as being way worse than all of its neighbors. There is no evidence of Sweden being anywhere close to whatever population herd immunity means when it comes to this coronavirus. A test is either now being conducted or will be conducted aimed at finding out exposure levels with its high mobility, high social engagement, university populations to again try to measure exposure levels in Sweden.
The badly hit 2nd quarter's damage in economic terms as per reported on August 25th:
Sweden's GDP, -8.6%
Denmark's GDP, -7.4%
Norway's GDP, -6.3%
A bit after Norway released its initial GDP figure on August 25th, Sweden quickly revised its own GDP drop to -8.3%.
Originally Posted by Based on Danska Bank cross-national data
Our findings have important implications for the appropriate policy response to a pandemic by suggesting that most of the reduction in economic activity is caused by the pandemic itself and occurs regardless of whether governments shut down sectors with high social proximity or not.5 Governments should weigh the benefits of the public health interventions in terms of reduced mortality and serious illness (Juranek and Zoutman, 2020) against the small differential cost in terms of economic activity.
....
Some assume that the COVID-19 pandemic is essentially a shock to the supply side with possible spill-overs to the demand side (Guerrieri et al., 2020), while others emphasize that the pandemic affects demand directly because it introduces a health cost of consumption(Eichenbaum et al, 2020). Our findings suggest that the direct demand shock is important: spending drops massively even when supply is unconstrained and the drop correlates strongly with health risk.6 Finally, our analysis contributes to an emerging literature studying the effects of the social distancing laws imposed by most governments in the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the literature focuses on the effectiveness of these policies in limiting personal mobility (Brzezinski et al., 2020; Sears, 2020) and containing the virus (Kraemer et al., 2020). While several papers use quantitative models to evaluate social distancing policies (e.g. Boden-stein et al., 2020; Acemoglu et al., 2020), we are not aware of other causal evidence on the effect on spending or other dimensions of economic activity.
....
Some assume that the COVID-19 pandemic is essentially a shock to the supply side with possible spill-overs to the demand side (Guerrieri et al., 2020), while others emphasize that the pandemic affects demand directly because it introduces a health cost of consumption(Eichenbaum et al, 2020). Our findings suggest that the direct demand shock is important: spending drops massively even when supply is unconstrained and the drop correlates strongly with health risk.6 Finally, our analysis contributes to an emerging literature studying the effects of the social distancing laws imposed by most governments in the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the literature focuses on the effectiveness of these policies in limiting personal mobility (Brzezinski et al., 2020; Sears, 2020) and containing the virus (Kraemer et al., 2020). While several papers use quantitative models to evaluate social distancing policies (e.g. Boden-stein et al., 2020; Acemoglu et al., 2020), we are not aware of other causal evidence on the effect on spending or other dimensions of economic activity.
For social disruption, a comparative survey was done across a variety of countries. It's to be noted that more than 70% of Swedes said the pandemic situation had seriously changed their life; that is a far higher proportion of the population saying that than was the case in all other surveyed countries except South Korea, a country that took a very different approach than Sweden.
Originally Posted by CNN
Among other findings in the survey, women in every country are more likely than men to say their lives have changed because of the crisis, with a gap as high as 15 points in the United States, France and Sweden.
And perhaps most surprising of all, in Sweden -- which famously put almost no restrictions in place to stop the spread of the virus -- more than seven out of 10 people (71%) said their lives had changed a great deal as a result of the outbreak. That's the second highest percentage of any country in the survey, behind South Korea (81%), which put sweeping restrictions in place.
The Pew Research Center conducted nationally representative telephone surveys of adults in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
And perhaps most surprising of all, in Sweden -- which famously put almost no restrictions in place to stop the spread of the virus -- more than seven out of 10 people (71%) said their lives had changed a great deal as a result of the outbreak. That's the second highest percentage of any country in the survey, behind South Korea (81%), which put sweeping restrictions in place.
The Pew Research Center conducted nationally representative telephone surveys of adults in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Sweden's virus toll on the health and lives of its population in comparison to its neighbors is already well covered as being way worse than all of its neighbors. There is no evidence of Sweden being anywhere close to whatever population herd immunity means when it comes to this coronavirus. A test is either now being conducted or will be conducted aimed at finding out exposure levels with its high mobility, high social engagement, university populations to again try to measure exposure levels in Sweden.
Last edited by GUWonder; Sep 1, 2020 at 7:35 am
Sep 1, 2020, 8:23 am
#1024
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Equally in New York, private schools started last week and public schools soon I suppose. So New York's numbers will be interesting soon as well.
Sep 1, 2020, 2:33 pm
#1025
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The bridge commuter pass gives you discount after 15 trips per month, for us right now we don't use that up but we don't bother trying to find someone online to share.
Sep 1, 2020, 7:44 pm
#1026
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Sep 2, 2020, 12:55 am
#1027
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The cost to take a bus across the bridge may be lower than to take the train — at least it used to be at times But I’m not sure those are even around like they used to be. But the coronavirus situation probably killed off a lot of demand for whatever little bus service remained.
Last edited by GUWonder; Sep 2, 2020 at 1:01 am
Sep 2, 2020, 2:14 am
#1028
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One family in Jönköping have had their children taken away from them. The reason is the family isolated due to the virus.
https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7544668
- Tre barn i länet har hållits isolerade och instängda i sitt hem i fyra månader. Orsaken är föräldrarnas stora rädsla för coronapandemin, och nu har förvaltningsrätten beslutat att barnen ska tvångsomhändertas omedelbart.
Sep 2, 2020, 3:12 am
#1029
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According to the article, they didn't just isolate. They forced their kids to stay in their own bed room for four months. The kids were not even allowed to play with each other. They were basically imprisoned for four months in their bed rooms.
Sep 2, 2020, 3:29 am
#1030
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Between Seas
Posts: 4,754
Social disruption in Sweden can be measured in substantial part by economic measures. Sweden's drop in 2nd quarter GDP -- the worst period for pandemic death counts in the Scandinavian region -- was materially worse than its Scandinavian neighbors. -
- A bit after Norway released its initial GDP figure on August 25th, Sweden quickly revised its own GDP drop to -8.3%.
For social disruption, a comparative survey was done across a variety of countries. It's to be noted that more than 70% of Swedes said the pandemic situation had seriously changed their life; that is a far higher proportion of the population saying that than was the case in all other surveyed countries except South Korea, a country that took a very different approach than Sweden.
- A bit after Norway released its initial GDP figure on August 25th, Sweden quickly revised its own GDP drop to -8.3%.
For social disruption, a comparative survey was done across a variety of countries. It's to be noted that more than 70% of Swedes said the pandemic situation had seriously changed their life; that is a far higher proportion of the population saying that than was the case in all other surveyed countries except South Korea, a country that took a very different approach than Sweden.
Sweden's export-economy profile differs from that of its neighbors. With induced recession, maintaining consumer confidence and supporting commercial restructuring is key. Nordic export-led recovery would be partly a function of household and industrial activities recovering dynamically across societies and markets worldwide. In the broad context of long and deep global contractions, regional comparisons of quarterly GDP are only slightly more useful than snapshots of daily deaths for figuring out prospects in the long run, which is the thing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53498133
Did Sweden's coronavirus strategy succeed or fail?
- Latest figures suggest Sweden is getting better at containing the virus. The number of daily reported deaths has been in single digits for much of July, in contrast with the peak of the pandemic in April, when more than 100 fatalities were logged on several dates. -
- Research from Scandinavian bank SEB in April suggested Swedes were spending at a higher rate than consumers in neighbouring Nordic nations. Despite this, various forecasts predict the Swedish economy will still shrink by about 5% this year. That's less than other countries hit hard by Covid-19 such as Italy, Spain and the UK, but still similar to the rest of Scandinavia. Sweden's unemployment rate of 9% remains the highest in the Nordics, up from 7.1% in March.
"Sweden, like the other Nordic countries, is a small, open economy, very dependent on trade. So the Swedish economy tends to do poorly when the rest of the world is doing poorly," explains Prof Karolina Ekholm, a former Deputy Governor of Sweden's central bank. Restaurants, shops and gyms have been allowed to remain open, but they have still struggled to attract customers, she says. But she does believe the right call was made to keep schools open for under-16s. -
Did Sweden's coronavirus strategy succeed or fail?
- Latest figures suggest Sweden is getting better at containing the virus. The number of daily reported deaths has been in single digits for much of July, in contrast with the peak of the pandemic in April, when more than 100 fatalities were logged on several dates. -
- Research from Scandinavian bank SEB in April suggested Swedes were spending at a higher rate than consumers in neighbouring Nordic nations. Despite this, various forecasts predict the Swedish economy will still shrink by about 5% this year. That's less than other countries hit hard by Covid-19 such as Italy, Spain and the UK, but still similar to the rest of Scandinavia. Sweden's unemployment rate of 9% remains the highest in the Nordics, up from 7.1% in March.
"Sweden, like the other Nordic countries, is a small, open economy, very dependent on trade. So the Swedish economy tends to do poorly when the rest of the world is doing poorly," explains Prof Karolina Ekholm, a former Deputy Governor of Sweden's central bank. Restaurants, shops and gyms have been allowed to remain open, but they have still struggled to attract customers, she says. But she does believe the right call was made to keep schools open for under-16s. -
Our predecessors would have shrugged off this low-mortality contagion like the terrible flu pandemics of their time, which the Swedes are doing likewise with old-school smarts.
Last edited by FlitBen; Sep 2, 2020 at 8:29 am
Sep 2, 2020, 4:00 am
#1031
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Survey data for opinions is a fact-based way to get at measures of social disruption during the pandemic, as individuals tend to be the best judge of their own experiences of how socially disruptive the pandemic situation has been to their own personal situation. And collective societal disruption for any given country is but the amalgam of disruption that hits individuals.
Mortality is not the only risk from being hit by this virus:
Pregnant or recently pregnant women with Covid-19 seem to be at increased risk of requiring admission to an intensive care unit or invasive ventilation.
Paper here:
https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3320
Mortality is not the only risk from being hit by this virus:
Pregnant or recently pregnant women with Covid-19 seem to be at increased risk of requiring admission to an intensive care unit or invasive ventilation.
Paper here:
https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3320
Conclusion Pregnant and recently pregnant women are less likely to manifest covid-19 related symptoms of fever and myalgia than non-pregnant women of reproductive age and are potentially more likely to need intensive care treatment for covid-19. Pre-existing comorbidities, high maternal age, and high body mass index seem to be risk factors for severe covid-19. Preterm birth rates are high in pregnant women with covid-19 than in pregnant women without the disease.
Last edited by GUWonder; Sep 2, 2020 at 4:06 am
Sep 2, 2020, 4:29 am
#1032
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Speaking of homes in Sweden:
Swedish home prices have risen during this pandemic to now be at the highest they've ever been, apart from apartments in Stockholm and Gothenburg. And even apartments in Stockholm and Gothenburg are pretty close to their historical peaks.
Want to know where people made the most money flipping houses in Sweden this year?
In (rather isolated) northern Sweden; and there it made the return percentages even in Malmo look like peanuts. Welcome to Sweden where even Malmo-area 2012/2013 purchases in the 5-8 million SEK range have people getting out with 12-15 million SEK in 2020 during this coronavirus situation.
Last edited by GUWonder; Sep 2, 2020 at 4:53 am
Sep 2, 2020, 7:49 am
#1033
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Sweden might be getting ahead on most measures, though.
Last edited by FlitBen; Sep 2, 2020 at 1:28 pm
Sep 2, 2020, 9:26 am
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Sep 2, 2020, 10:23 am
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- Tre barn i länet har hållits isolerade och instängda i sitt hem i fyra månader. Orsaken är föräldrarnas stora rädsla för coronapandemin, och nu har förvaltningsrätten beslutat att barnen ska tvångsomhändertas omedelbart.
- Enligt domen ska ytterdörren ha satts igen med plankor så att barnen inte kunde gå ut, något som föräldrarna nekar till. Skolan har skötts på distans och barnen har varit begränsade från att umgås med varandra, och fått vara på sina rum.
- Barnens företrädare i Förvaltningsrätten, advokat Mikael Svegfors säger att föräldrarnas rädsla grundar sig i att de följt rapporteringen om pandemin i sitt hemland, där stora delar av samhället slagit igen.
- Föräldrarnas advokat Andreas Hannah, säger att föräldrarna har en annan bild av det som hänt, och de nekar till att ha satt igen ytterdörren med plankor.