Sweden Unveils 'Promising' Covid-19 Data as New Cases Plunge

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As other countries face renewed outbreaks, Sweden’s latest Covid-19 figures suggest it’s rapidly bringing the virus under control.

“That Sweden has come down to these levels is very promising,” state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters in Stockholm on Tuesday.

The Health Agency of Sweden says that since hitting a peak in late June, the infection rate has fallen sharply. That’s amid an increase in testing over the period. “The curves are going down and the curves for the seriously ill are beginning to approach zero,” Tegnell said.

The development follows months of controversy over Sweden’s decision to avoid a full lockdown. The unusual strategy coincided with a much higher Covid-19 mortality rate than elsewhere in the Nordic region. Per 100,000, Swedish deaths even exceeded those in the U.S. and Brazil.

On Tuesday, Sweden reported two new deaths, bringing the total to 5,702.

Tegnell also broached the subject of face masks, which the World Health Organization recommends people use when social distancing isn’t possible.

“With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport,” he said.

Tegnell has consistently argued that Sweden’s approach is more sustainable than the sudden lockdowns imposed elsewhere. With the risk that Covid-19 might be around for years, he says completely shutting down society isn’t a long-term option.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/sweden-unveils-promising-covid-19-data-as-new-cases-plunge

[Patterson]

1. Herd immunity light?

[LisaL]

3. Could be summer.

I don't think Sweden uses air conditioners (at least widely).
I really think indoor air conditioning use is the reason for rapid rise in covid in the South.
Covid is airborne and air conditioning currents seem to spread it. Which is why it hasn't slowed in the summer here in US.

[Blue_true]

5. AC is a problem.

But Australia is in early Fall and they are having a resurgence.

I used to trust anything that came out of Sweden, I really don’t trust anything they say about SAR-COV-2, it is so contradictory to what the rest of the world is seeing, and the rest of the world has covered every possibility that can occur in Sweden.

[LisaL]

6. Australia is having a resurgence because of reopening.

Clearly covid is not behaving like the flu, it didn't go away during the summer. The reason seems pretty obvious-airborne spread through indoor air conditioning. Air conditioning is mostly recycling indoor air, and tiny covid particles are floating on the air currents. Our hottest states seems to be having most of the covid cases because at this weather most people stay indoor mostly, with air conditioning in full blast (and those states are not livable without air conditioning so they can't turn them off).

[progree]

7. It's midwinter in Australia -- their seasons are 6 months from our seasons; we're (U.S.) in

Last edited Tue Jul 28, 2020, 11:53 PM - Edit history (1)

midsummer temperature-wise (statistically on average, the last week of July in the U.S. is the hottest week of the year -- the peak of summer as far as temperatures). It's likely the coldest week or near the coldest week of the year in Australia.

Back when the pandemic got really going outside of China -- February and March -- it was like August and September in Australia (late summer and early fall).

[hedda_foil]

9. Australia is in late winter, not early fall.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

2. Anders Tegnell has blood on his hands.

He is an embarrassment to epidemiology and has alienated Sweden from the rest of Scandinavia. Promising data my ass, they're the 8th worst in deaths per million. Meanwhile, Denmark is 41st, Norway is 70th.

[still_one]

4. Exactly

[Thekaspervote]

8. This!!

[herding cats]

10. My knee jerk reaction mirrors your words.

I'm not impressed with him in the least.