The Swedish way: 'Could have done more'

No, Sweden didn't 'mess up' but if it was possible to go back in time state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell would have tried to do more to stop the corona pandemic in Sweden.  

  • Sweden's higher death toll compared to neighboring countries is due to the amount of infected in elderly housing according to epidemiologist Anders Tegnell. "What we do in the country must have an effect," says State Epidemiologist Tegnell, "but the amount of deaths among elderly is troubling."
  • In a typical Swedish turn of events state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has already started his soul-searching and analysis to see what could have been done more, better or earlier to avoid deaths and critical illness from the virus.                       
                     
    “I think there’s a potential for improvements to what we have done in Sweden, that’s clear to me,” he said today in an interview on Swedish Radio. “And it would be good to know more precisely what to shut down to prevent the spread of infection better.” Things could be different in the future: “I think we might land somewhere in the middle of what we did in Sweden and what the rest of the world has done,” he said.

  • Given Sweden's detailed and quickly updated statistics it isn't hard to see what Tegnell refers to: More than 90 percent of all people in Sweden who have died from COVID-19 were 70 years or older; 49 percent lived in elderly homes and 25 percent had home care, according to recent data from the National Board of Health and Welfare. The highest death rate is found in the group of 85 years and older. As of today, June 3, a total of 4,542 have died from Covid-19 in Sweden, which corresponds to 450 deaths / 1 M population. Compare with the U.S. at 329 / 1 M population. Only Belgium, England, Italy and Spain have a higher death rate per million population.