Sweden's liberal pandemic strategy questioned as Stockholm death toll mounts

[dann]

This one from the Covid-19 Science & Medicine thread is also interesting in the Swedish context
Genomic evidence for reinfection with SARS-CoV-2: a case study (TheLancet, Oct. 12, 2020):

What do people make of this new study that says a man caught COVID-19 twice, and the second time was worse?

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30764-7/fulltext

 

[dann]

Kvinna död – fick corona två gånger (Aftonbladet.se, Oct. 13, 2020)
Woman died - got corona twice

The case is Dutch, not Scandinavian.

 

[jimbob]

Kvinna död – fick corona två gånger (Aftonbladet.se, Oct. 13, 2020)
Woman died - got corona twice

The case is Dutch, not Scandinavian.

There are sufficient cases now - including one from Hong Kong with genomic sequencing showing they were separate infections to suggest that immunity mightn't last that long.

 

[lionking]

I had a colleague who I respect tell me today that the WHO has now declared that hard lockdown is not necessary and that she therefore believes we in Melbourne should open up.

My first response was that the WHO hardly covered themselves in glory during the early stages by, amongst other things, refusing to call it a pandemic when it clearly was. But my second more important point was to ask my colleague “which response should we follow then, the US, the UK, Spain, France or even Sweden?”

We have daily infections of 10 on average, and things will soon open up. Shame on you Sweden.

 

[uke2se]

I had a colleague who I respect tell me today that the WHO has now declared that hard lockdown is not necessary and that she therefore believes we in Melbourne should open up.

My first response was that the WHO hardly covered themselves in glory during the early stages by, amongst other things, refusing to call it a pandemic when it clearly was. But my second more important point was to ask my colleague “which response should we follow then, the US, the UK, Spain, France or even Sweden?”

We have daily infections of 10 on average, and things will soon open up. Shame on you Sweden.

???

You can't expect us to take responsibility for your colleague's reaction to a prolonged lockdown.

 

[theprestige]

???

You can't expect us to take responsibility for your colleague's reaction to a prolonged lockdown.

If only Sweden's policies were more to lionking's liking, his co-worker wouldn't have any excuse to be so obnoxious?

 

[zooterkin]

There are sufficient cases now - including one from Hong Kong with genomic sequencing showing they were separate infections to suggest that immunity mightn't last that long.

Are there? There are certainly enough cases (>1) to show that reinfection is possible. Do we know how likely it is? Do we know if the affected people had immunity which they lost, or were they, for some reason, never immune?

 

[dann]

You can't expect us to take responsibility for your colleague's reaction to a prolonged lockdown.

If only Sweden's policies were more to lionking's liking, his co-worker wouldn't have any excuse to be so obnoxious?

Since lionking's coworker referred to WHO and not to Sweden, Sweden probably can't be blamed for that one.
However, it has become very obvious at this point that Sweden has now almost completely abandoned the so-called Swedish strategy. At the press briefing this afternoon, Anders Tegnell made it clear that he doesn't think that old people in nursing homes can be protected by isolating them exclusively while the virus is left to rage among the younger generations, which was one of the two 'legs' of the Swedish strategy: 1) to flatten the curve so the health-care system wasn't overwhelmed (which it was), while 2) protecting the elderly so they didn't get infected (which they did):

Antalet fall på äldreboenden har dubblerats senaste veckan.
- Det finns oroande tecken på att äldreboenden återigen börjat drabbas. På kort tid har antalet fall fördubblats, även om det inte finns något som tyder på att det finns en koppling till att de öppnats upp (för besök), eftersom den här ökningen började innan dess. Men nu är det viktigt att man provtar generöst bland personalen, säger Anders Tegnell.
Senaste nytt om coronaviruset (SVT.se, Oct. 13, 2020 - 14:06)

The number of cases in nursing homes doubled last week.
- There are disconcerting signs that nursing homes are being impacted again. In a short time, the number of cases has doubled, even if nothing indicates that it is connected to nursing homes having been reopened (for visitors), since the rise in cases started before that. But now it is important that the staff is tested massively, Anders Tegnell says.
Latest news about the coronavirus

At the very least, I think that Sweden (Anders Tegnell & Johan Giesecke in particular) owes it to the world to make it absolutely clear that Sweden's herd-immunity strategy was a disastrous idea. And Sweden owes it even more to the citizens of Sweden to come out and say so!
Sweden has spent the past six months propagating the Swedish strategy to its population and to the world. It is time to make up for that disgraceful act by coming clean.
Neo-liberal morons all around the world are still referring to Sweden's coronavirus response as the way to go!

 

[jimbob]

Are there? There are certainly enough cases (>1) to show that reinfection is possible. Do we know how likely it is? Do we know if the affected people had immunity which they lost, or were they, for some reason, never immune?

It's sufficient that you shouldn't rely on it.

 

[dann]

New cases:
Tuesday, Sep. 15: 840 - since Friday, according to SVT.se
Tuesday, Sep. 22: 1199 - since Friday, according to SVT.se
Tuesday, Sep. 29: 1,543 - since Friday, according to SVT.se
Tuesday, Oct. 6: 1,862 - since Friday, according to SVT.se

Tuesday, Oct. 13: 2,203 - since Friday, according to SVT.se

 

[Clutch Cargo]

LATEST UPDATE. according to WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19),


Data last updated: 2020/10/13, 5:06pm CEST

Newly reported cases in the last 24 hours:

U.S. 45,325
Australia 22
Sweden 0
Denmark 389
New Zealand 1

This is quite interesting. The U.S. has actually decreased in number by an impressive amount. Australia has only 2 new cases in this category. New Zealand has increased by only one case but it does demonstrate that it never “eliminated” the virus, not once, not twice, not thrice …. well, you get the idea. Sweden (as expected) has maintained its “eliminated” status (bravo Sweden!). But Denmark ….. is increasing steadily. What the hell is Denmark up to? They’ve put in place some hard rules of behaviour with regards to the Corona virus and yet their cases are increasing day by day. I think it is appropriate to quote one popular American expression, “Something is rotten in Denmark!”

As far as using SVT as a "reputable" source here is a quote from today:

“SVT bortom all räddning
Den samordnade och oblyga propagandaoffensiven från SVT klargör bortom alla tvivel behovet av att lägga ner Public service och bygga upp det från grunden, med nya anställda som värdesätter traditionell journalistisk integritet."

"SVT beyond all rescue
The coordinated and shameless propaganda offensive from SVT clarifies beyond any doubt the need to close down Public Service and build it from the ground up, with new employees who value traditional journalistic integrity."

It is true that this quote is from a right-wing politcal party (Alternativ för Sverige) but it does express the general opinion in today's Sweden .

 

[PhantomWolf]

Are there? There are certainly enough cases (>1) to show that reinfection is possible. Do we know how likely it is? Do we know if the affected people had immunity which they lost, or were they, for some reason, never immune?

From the current case of reassurance it would seem that the issue is not being reinfected by the same strain, but rather coming in contact with a different strain of the virus. Based on the current case, including one in Houston, doctors looking into it are still happy that a vaccine will work for all strains even though natural immunity doesn't appear to be able to protect against all variants. I'm not a doctor so don't understand the ins and outs, just relaying what was being stated the other day when the Houston case was confirmed.

 

[marting]

Are there? There are certainly enough cases (>1) to show that reinfection is possible. Do we know how likely it is? Do we know if the affected people had immunity which they lost, or were they, for some reason, never immune?

I found some recent studies on reinfection
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13256498&postcount=2232

So far it appears the large majority of people that have had covid are currently immune. How long this lasts from here is unknown.

 

[Tippit]

Swedish Health Chief Said Country Avoided Lockdown To Prevent "Pandemic Fatigue"

 

[lionking]

???

You can't expect us to take responsibility for your colleague's reaction to a prolonged lockdown.

My comment "shame on you Sweden" stands on its own and has no connection to my colleague's comment. Do you believe that Sweden should not be ashamed of its behaviour in "managing" the virus?

 

[Clutch Cargo]

Swedish Health Chief Said Country Avoided Lockdown To Prevent "Pandemic Fatigue"

An interesting report and it does make you wonder.

"Despite the mainstream media predicting that this would lead to massive fatalities, Sweden has recorded under 6,000 coronavirus deaths and now has the lowest death rate in Europe."

... and ...

"Sweden’s health care system was never overwhelmed, even at the height of the pandemic, and the country is now in a better position than any other country on the continent, virtually all of which continue to follow disastrous lockdown policies."

I think Denmark is an interesting example of how restrictions (à la Denmark) have done nothing to decrease reported new cases of the virus. In any case, it is certainly worth considering whether or not such restrictions are an advantage in the long run.

 

[dann]

As far as using SVT as a "reputable" source here is a quote from today:

“SVT bortom all räddning
Den samordnade och oblyga propagandaoffensiven från SVT klargör bortom alla tvivel behovet av att lägga ner Public service och bygga upp det från grunden, med nya anställda som värdesätter traditionell journalistisk integritet."

"SVT beyond all rescue
The coordinated and shameless propaganda offensive from SVT clarifies beyond any doubt the need to close down Public Service and build it from the ground up, with new employees who value traditional journalistic integrity."

It is true that this quote is from a right-wing politcal party (Alternativ för Sverige) but it does express the general opinion in today's Sweden .

In this thread, I have criticized the bias of SVT and other Swedish media when they report on the Swedish pandemic strategy and its inventors, Tegnell & Giesecke, but SVT reliably reports the daily SARS-CoV-2 numbers every afternoon Tuesday to Friday, numbers it gets from Sweden's Public Health Agency. CC finds it relevant to quote an article that has nothing at all to do with SVT's reports about the pandemic. Instead, the article criticizes SVT's attitude to immigrants: too positive, in the author's opinion.

The author Gustav Kasselstrand is the leader of the party Alternative för Sverige:

Alternative for Sweden (Swedish: Alternativ för Sverige) is a Swedish nationalist, right-wing populist political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 2017 by members of the Sweden Democrat Youth, who were collectively expelled from the Sweden Democrats in 2015.
(…)
In early April 2015, the Sweden Democrats (SD) accused its youth league, the Sweden Democrat Youth (SDU), of having relations with the white power organization Nordic Youth (Swedish: Nordisk Ungdom).
Alternative for Sweden (Wikipedia)

The article, ”SVT bortom all räddning”, appeared in the online newspaper Nya Dagbladet, which doesn't have a Wikipedia page in English:

Nya Dagbladet är en svensk nätbaserad dagstidning grundad 2012. Tidningen är nationalistisk, vetenskapsskeptisk[källa behövs] och partipolitiskt obunden. Den betecknar sig som humanistisk och etnopluralistisk med en antiglobalistisk hållning.
Nya Dagbladet (Wikipedia)

Nya Dagbladet is a Swedish, internet-based newspaper founded in 2012. The paper is nationalistic, science sceptical (citation needed) og unaffiliated with party politics. It calls itself humanist and ethno-pluralist with an anti-global attitude.

It is obvious why CC takes us on this tour of Swedish far-right politics that began with the Sweden Democrats and is now referencing even more extreme representatives. The whole point is to justify his daily obfuscation of statistics about the pandemic in Sweden.

 

[dann]

An interesting report and it does make you wonder.

"Despite the mainstream media predicting that this would lead to massive fatalities, Sweden has recorded under 6,000 coronavirus deaths and now has the lowest death rate in Europe."

It makes you wonder why the author, 'Tyler Durden' (directly from Fight Club, I suppose) presents the very obvious lie that Sweden "now has the lowest death rate in Europe."
But I guess the reason is obvious yet again:

Zero Hedge or ZeroHedge is a far-right libertarian financial blog, presenting staff-written articles and aggregating news and opinions from external sources.
(...)
Zero Hedge in-house content is posted under the pseudonym "Tyler Durden"
Zero Hedge (Wikipedia)

 

[dann]

Stängda gym och stopp för kollektivtrafiken, besök på köpcentrum och särskilda boenden.
Uppsala kan bli först med lokala rekommendationer (DagensNyheter.se, Oct. 13, 2020)

Closed gyms and stop for public transport, visits to shopping malls and old people’s homes.
Uppsala may be the first town with local recommendations

Smittan ökar i Stockholm – allt fler får vård (SVT.se, Oct. 13, 2020 – 16:51)
Number of infections rising in Stockholm – more hospitalizations

 

[dann]

Tuesday:
Coronavirus - countries (Worldometers, Oct. 13, 2020)
Deaths per million (Total deaths) New cases Serious/Critical
Sweden: 583 (5,899) 2,203* 25 *since Friday, according to SVT.se,
Denmark: 116 (674) 290 19
Finland: 62 (346) 287 10
Norway: 51 (277) 154 3
Iceland: 29 (10) 86 3
Iceland has 1,071 active cases, Faroe Islands 12, New Zealand 39.
The Faroe Islands have 70 in quarantine, 0 hospitalized.
The Faroese health authorities are pretty optimistic: Covid vaccine may arrive in the Faroes this year (KVF.fo, Oct. 13, 2020) [/quote]