Covid Pandemic: Sweden - Welcome Back Covid-19

 (Drivebycuriosity). The world is still fighting the Covid-19 Pandemic. Many talk about the Swedish model. Sweden refused to lockdown and is keeping factories, shops, ice cream parlors, hairdressers, gyms, schools & kindergartens open. The Scandinavian country reported in April and May high rates of infections and deaths, much higher than her neighbors which supported the critics of the Swedish experiment, but in summer the infection rates dropped shartly (driveby). 

Then the supporters of the Swedish model of doing nothing celebrated. One idiot, Arne Elofsson, a professor in biometrics at Stockholm University, claimed that “the population has developed a form of immunity: “Strict rules do not work as people seem to break them. Sweden is doing fine" (marketwatch).

But summer has ended and Covid-19 is back. Yesterday the country reported almost 2,000 new daily cases, more than in Spring (chart above worldometers ). It turned out that the drop in summer was just a seasonal effect. The Swedes use the short Scandinavian summer for extensive holidays. From mid June (around June 20) through mid August schools were closed and so were most factories and offices. The Swedes enjoyed the long northerly days in fresh air. "Summer in Sweden means workplaces emptying for weeks on end and a flood of 'out of office' replies from colleagues and clients taking lengthy vacations" ( thelocal). Relatively warm air and many hours of sunshine (meaning UV radiations) may have helped to constrain the virus. 

In August I wrote that "the real test of the Swedish model will come when the holidays end. Temperatures will drop, daily sunshine time will get shorter and the Swedes will go back to schools, factories and offices (driveby). Apparently the test doesn`t go well for the Swedish model and the herd immunity theory.