Lessons from Sweden’s pandemic experiment.
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California’s National Guard was deployed to assist four beleaguered hospitals.
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Los Angeles will require most people to show proof of vaccination to enter many indoor businesses, in one of the nation’s strictest vaccine rules.
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Nebraska restored its Covid data dashboard after taking it down over the summer.
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Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and a vaccine tracker.
The view from Sweden
Throughout the pandemic, Sweden has taken its own path.
During the initial months of the pandemic, as other countries were locking down, Sweden surprised many epidemiologists by keeping businesses open and most children in classrooms. The results were mixed: It fared worse than other Scandinavian countries, but better than many of its European neighbors with tougher rules.
But when cases spiked in the fall and winter, the country relented and imposed restrictions, including ordering some businesses to close and fining people for breaking virus rules. Last week, however, the country lifted almost all of its pandemic restrictions.
To get a sense of how the pandemic has played out recently in Sweden, we spoke with Christina Anderson, who reports from Nordic states for The Times.
How has Sweden’s recent pandemic experience differed from that of the U.S. or other European countries?
Sweden has a very different mask culture compared with the U.S. and other European countries. It was reluctant to recommend masks for a long time. Even after the public health authority urged people to start using masks in public transport, people didn’t always follow the recommendation. You weren’t likely to get yelled at for not wearing a mask.
There isn’t a huge debate about vaccination here, either. Vaccination is entirely voluntary in Sweden. Nearly 80 percent of the population ages 16 and older are fully vaccinated. The most vulnerable population is at about 95 percent.
Was the Swedish approach to the pandemic a success or a failure? What do Swedes think?
According to a recent survey, 51 percent of Swedes between the ages of 18 and 79 polled had a high degree of confidence in the country’s pandemic strategy. That has steadily been increasing during the year. People seem fairly happy that they haven’t been forced into lockdown.
But in terms of calling it a success or a failure? There’s still a sense that the jury is out. I spoke to Anders Tegnell, the state epidemiologist, and he doesn’t think that we’re in a position to pound our chests with pride.
If you look at the mortality statistics, compared with Norway, Finland and Denmark, Sweden fared much worse. The pandemic highlighted weaknesses in care in the nursing homes. Compared to many other European countries, however, Sweden has done similarly or better, and not much worse.
What are some interesting findings to come out of Sweden’s pandemic approach?
Two come from schools and restaurants.
Sweden kept most schools open. The country did a comparative study with Finland, which closed most schools, on school infection rates. The study found that closing schools did not have a significant impact on infection rates.
One thing that weighed heavily on public officials when they were deciding to close schools was the high percentage of new residents resulting from the 2015 refugee crisis. They did not want these kids to lose out on getting acclimated to the country and language.
According to Tegnell, restaurants were not a huge place of infection in Sweden. They stayed open, but the public health authority restricted the number of people per party and closed bar service. But you always saw people in restaurants. You always saw life around town.
Instead, Tegnell says the biggest vectors of transmission were the home and the workplace. Those places accounted for between 20 and 30 percent of infections. Ten percent were public places like subways.
What was the mood like when Sweden lifted its restrictions?
People expected it to be a little like “kosläpp” (“cow release”), when cows are let back into the fields in the spring after a winter indoors. In parts of the country, it was like that. Over the weekend, there were reports that drunk cells in Gothenburg were over capacity. And a columnist likened the vomit splotches on Stockholm streets to a scene in “Alien.”
Most people have been socializing to a certain extent all along. But now bar service has reopened in restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Theaters and the opera have opened, too.
It’s been really hard on the older population. They haven’t been able to meet in the same relatively unrestricted way. Now it feels as if life is going back to normal, even for them.
Expanding rapid at-home testing
Rapid at-home tests can be difficult to find in the U.S. Just ask our colleague David Leonhardt, who wrote about his quest to score some in today’s issue of The Morning newsletter.
But the White House today announced a billion-dollar investment in at-home rapid coronavirus tests that it says will help quadruple their availability by later this year.
Tens of millions more will arrive on the market in the coming weeks. By December, 200 million rapid tests will be available to Americans each month, a White House official said.
Efforts to expand testing access also received a significant boost this week, when the F.D.A. authorized Acon Laboratories’ at-home test. Like the handful of tests already on the U.S. market, Acon’s test is made to detect antigens on a nasal swab, and produces results within 15 minutes.
These tests cost as little as $10, and while they are not as sensitive as P.C.R. tests, they are highly accurate in detecting infection in the first week after symptoms appear, when the viral load is likely to be highest.
What else we’re following
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The U.S. is starting to recover from a summer surge, but public health officials say the pandemic remains a potent threat.
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A new study found that “Covid toes” may be caused by an immune system overreaction.
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Sweden and Denmark paused the use of Moderna’s vaccine for younger age groups because of possible rare side effects, Reuters reported.
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U.S. hospitals in less vaccinated areas are struggling financially under a surge of patients, The Washington Post reported.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set deadlines for employees of Canada’s federal government to be vaccinated.
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The choice for a Colorado patient: Get the Covid vaccine, or miss out on a kidney transplant.
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The pandemic inspired tenants to fight back against a landlord named by officials last year as the “worst” in New York City.
What you’re doing
Covid has given me a new approach to dating. Now I just have to ask their views on Covid to ferret out crazy much more quickly. When someone tells you they had Covid in one sentence, and then says they think it’s a hoax in the next, I can quickly say, “Yeah, your crazy is definitely on your front porch.” It’s common in the South to put your crazy on the front porch, but Covid has brought a new level to that. I now feel like my daughter trying to find an outfit to wear. I’m quickly throwing dates over my shoulder saying, “Nope, that’s not what I want to wear today.” I never thought that this far into a pandemic, I would still be dealing with so much belief in crazy conspiracy theories.
— Lora Leathco, Columbia, S.C.
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