The AlphaGalileo Blog 10/06/2020
Sweden and Covid19: Facts and figures
by Kosta Stefanov, AlphaGalileo
Research by Swedish universities, published by AlphaGalileo, shows that the Swedish public’s confidence in politicians regarding coronavirus is decreasing. These are the latest findings of a study conducted between 11-17 May by the Swedish non-profit organisation VA (Public & Science), Karolinska Institute and Södertörn University.
As in earlier surveys, the Swedish public has the greatest confidence in doctors and other healthcare professionals. Ninety percent have fairly or very high confidence in healthcare professionals, followed by researchers (82 percent) and government officials (68 percent).
One clear difference from the previous survey conducted at the end of April is that confidence in politicians has decreased by 12 percentage points, from 40 percent to 28 percent.
What are the reasons?
Sweden was one of two European countries (the second - Belarus) that refused to fight the coronavirus epidemic by lockdowns. Swedish authorities adopted their own strategy for responding to the spread of this disease, and for a long time it seemed that it really works.
But now it turns out that everything looks much worse for Sweden.
It is enough to compare Sweden with its neighbours, who introduced restrictions and strict lockdowns.
If you look at the statistics, the number of daily cured in Denmark and Norway has long exceeded the number of cases. Both countries actually defeated the epidemic - in Denmark there are just over 1 thousand people who are really sick, in Norway - about 0.7 thousand.
However, in Sweden the situation is far from normal. Of the 35 thousand infected, only about 5 thousand were cured. In 10 millionth Sweden only 238 thousand tests were carried out. For comparison, about the same number of them were carried out in Norway, where the population is half that. And in almost six millionth Denmark, as many as 576 thousand tests were carried out.
Yes, the main indicator of the epidemic is mortality. However, even here Sweden shows the worst performance among all the Scandinavian countries. Almost 5 thousand people died there (or 12% of all officially ill). In Denmark, 565 people died (5% of cases), and in Norway - 235 (almost 3%).
At the same time Swedish economy is sinking. According to the Swedish Institute for Economic Research NIER forecasts Sweden's GDP will shrink by as much as 7% this year, and unemployment will reach 10%.
And another worrying trend: more and more young Swedes are losing their jobs. Currently, 11% of people between the ages of 18 and 25 are unemployed.
To all this is added the suspension of production in such large concerns as Volvo and Scania.
The tourism sector is also under strong pressure after the government urged Swedes not to travel more than two hours by car. The forecasts of the Swedish Union of Entrepreneurs are also gloomy. Their expectations are for about 10,000 bankruptcies this year alone.
However, there are not many critical voices regarding the fight against coronavirus in Sweden. Both among the expert community and among the population, for the most part, the path that the country has chosen is approved.
Only the future will show who is right and who is wrong.
Link to original item by Vetenskap & Allmaenhet
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