Sweden's COVID response - "Oops"

[FaaR]

Seems clear the 'herd immunity through infection' idea (which I've seen being relentlessly pushed by libertarians across the web since the pandemic began - usually with the standard 'I'm so much smarter than everyone else' attitude that libertarians tend to have) really didn't pan out.

That was never Sweden's strategy though. I don't know how or where this idea started, but it's bogus. Ultimately you have to blame the "simplified soundbite" news reporting (and politicians!) of today (just the word "herd immunity" eliminates the need for a lot of complicated explanation), but where exactly the original erroneous connection appeared I've never seen determined. It just sounded great to the libertards and conservafrauds so they grabbed it and ran with it, and they would have grabbed it and run with it even if they knew it was a bogus theory because they're Just That Shitty as a group of people.

The actual strategy was to keep the number of daily new infections below hospitals' ability to cope with them by attempting to limit the spread of the disease through enforced social distancing and (interestingly) NOT shutting down schools for pre-high school aged children.

The latter because A: if you shut down schools the kids are going to require babysitting, and that would either put many kids with their grandparents who are the most vulnerable group in society (not good!) or else keep parents away from work - potentially in hospitals or other occupations critical to society. And B: young kids don't contract covid very easily, and they're going to naturally congregate to play with each other anyway so might as well keep 'em in school.

 

[pmv]

That was never Sweden's strategy though. I don't know how or where this idea started, but it's bogus. Ultimately you have to blame the "simplified soundbite" news reporting (and politicians!) of today (just the word "herd immunity" eliminates the need for a lot of complicated explanation), but where exactly the original erroneous connection appeared I've never seen determined. It just sounded great to the libertards and conservafrauds so they grabbed it and ran with it, and they would have grabbed it and run with it even if they knew it was a bogus theory because they're Just That Shitty as a group of people.

The actual strategy was to keep the number of daily new infections below hospitals' ability to cope with them by attempting to limit the spread of the disease through enforced social distancing and (interestingly) NOT shutting down schools for pre-high school aged children.

The latter because A: if you shut down schools the kids are going to require babysitting, and that would either put many kids with their grandparents who are the most vulnerable group in society (not good!) or else keep parents away from work - potentially in hospitals or other occupations critical to society. And B: young kids don't contract covid very easily, and they're going to naturally congregate to play with each other anyway so might as well keep 'em in school.

As I'm not Swedish and don't speak Swedish I can't say - you may or may not be correct as to what the official strategy there was. But not only has Sweden been cited repeatedly by those who do favour that rather callous strategy, there have been numerous reports of Sweden's chief epidemiologist proclaiming Stockholm at least is approaching 'herd immunity' - only to be disproved by the low levels of antibodies found in testing. If it wasn't the strategy why have they been so over-keen to claim that they are about to achieve it?

As I understand it, though, Sweden also worked to increase the ICU capacity of the medical system, not just 'flattening the curve' but also 'raising the line' under which the curve needs to be kept. In that respect Sweden does seem to have done relatively well.

I strongly suspect that a good part of the reason why the UK has done rather poorly, is because our leadership flirted with that 'herd immunity through infection' idea at the start, before realising it wouldn't work, and so delayed locking down too long. My suspicion is ultimately the blame for our poor performance will lie with the likes of David Halpern and his 'nudge unit' of behavioural psychologists. That's mostly just my prejudices though. I'm prejudiced against a vague nexus of "people who aren't nearly as clever as they think they are", which could be summed up as 'Dominic Cummings, all self-proclaimed libertarians, and anyone associated with the Freakanomics lot'. Edit - oh, and 'psychologists' - a discipline I reckon is a pseudo-science.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Remember back in the old timey days where closet racists with black friends would claim Sweden is a magical land of COVID proof Aryans?
Nope

Sweden chose a looser lockdown. The scientist behind the strategy now says the death toll is too high

Anders Tegnell says the Swedish approach, which has allowed citizens to continue to go to restaurants and gyms, should be adapted as deaths soar

fortune.com

My deplorable’s we’re running with the herd immunity thing

 

[FaaR]

If it wasn't the strategy why have they been so over-keen to claim that they are about to achieve it?

That they've been "over-keen" is your interpretation; I would not agree with that. Typically, Tegnell has not mentioned herd immunity in his briefings, and typically when he does would stress this is not the intent or goal of the Swedish strategy.

You may be experiencing selection bias either in what Swedish covid news is presented to you or what your memory retains. The latter is largely involuntary of course, so you could not be blamed for it.

 

[pmv]

That they've been "over-keen" is your interpretation; I would not agree with that. Typically, Tegnell has not mentioned herd immunity in his briefings, and typically when he does would stress this is not the intent or goal of the Swedish strategy.

You may be experiencing selection bias either in what Swedish covid news is presented to you or what your memory retains. The latter is largely involuntary of course, so you could not be blamed for it.

That's a reasonable point. I suggest the former is also involuntary as it depends what the Engliish-language media chooses to focus on. On the whole I'm not that concerned with what Sweden does, it's more the way non-Swedes with an agenda keep citing it as an example to follow (usually people who never approvingly cite anything else Sweden does).

Edit - here's an example of such a report

Swedish Ambassador Says Stockholm Expected To Reach 'Herd Immunity' In May

Sweden has employed a controversial coronavirus response strategy of imposing only limited restrictions. The country's ambassador to the U.S. says the approach is having success.

www.npr.org

Or...

Sweden resisted a lockdown, and its capital Stockholm is expected to reach 'herd immunity' in weeks

Sweden went against the grain by keeping public life as unrestricted as possible when the coronavirus hit. Now, it says its strategy appears to be working.

www.cnbc.com

The strategy — aimed at allowing some exposure to the virus in order to build immunity among the general population while protecting high-risk groups like the elderly — has been controversial. Some health experts liken it to playing Russian roulette with public health.

But now, the country's chief epidemiologist said the strategy appears to be working and that "herd immunity" could be reached in the capital Stockholm in a matter of weeks.

"In major parts of Sweden, around Stockholm, we have reached a plateau (in new cases) and we're already seeing the effect of herd immunity and in a few weeks' time we'll see even more of the effects of that. And in the rest of the country, the situation is stable," Dr. Anders Tegnell, chief epidemiologist at Sweden's Public Health Agency, told CNBC on Tuesday.

 

[FaaR]

it's more the way non-Swedes with an agenda keep citing it as an example to follow (usually people who never approvingly cite anything else Sweden does).

Yes. And btw, it's not that Swedish authorities don't mention herd immunity, it's been discussed, perhaps mostly because other people discuss it, like in the media and certain well known public/social media figures and such.

And Sweden wasn't always a shining example to be held up in the eyes of the Deplorables either; Dumpy himself made headlines back this past spring or whenever it was when he suddenly announced during a press conference or somesuch how terrible the country was doing and...nothing of the sort was happening, of course. He was just making shit up as usual, as an attempt to deflect from the criticism he was getting because he refused to do anything about the pandemic.

 

[feralkid]

My deplorable’s we’re running with the herd immunity thing

wut

 

[ch33zw1z]

wut

Think he means conservative friends were pushing herd immunity as a responsible choice. I guess it could be if you consider deaths in the 10 million range acceptable.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Think he means conservative friends were pushing herd immunity as a responsible choice. I guess it could be if you consider deaths in the 10 million range acceptable.

This