Great Covid News! Sweden's infections rates are declining significantly, showing their method is very likely the best path forward

JavyBaez9 · Aug 3, 2020

Sweden's GDP growth last quarter, and their rates of infections have now been dropping dramatically. Nearly no new deaths in Sweden, despite never locking down.

The expectation is that herd immunity is only needed to be at 20-30% instead of the expected 60-70% as lots of people who have had the common cold (another Coronavirus) have a certain level of immunity already.

Great news, everyone!

JavyBaez9 · Aug 3, 2020

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...s-promising-covid-19-data-as-new-cases-plunge

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.
[h=3]Masks[/h]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.
Read More: Sweden Retail Sales ‘More Than Reversed’ Covid-19 Decline
Meanwhile, many countries that thought they’d brought the virus under control are now seeing second waves. Tegnell called those developments “worrying.”
“The positive trend is reversing, with an increase in the number of cases in Spain, Romania and Belgium, among others,” he said.

X-Files · Aug 3, 2020

From the same url:

But the strategy has also resulted in Sweden having one of the highest death rates in the world, at 56.4 per 100,000, and it’s unclear whether the economy will fare much better than in neighboring Denmark and Norway, which initially imposed strict lockdowns and have seen substantially lower fatalities.

“We do not know how the virus strategy will affect the economies in the long run,” said Nordea economist Torbjorn Isaksson in emailed comments. “Our Nordic neighbors locked down but may be able to open up and normalize faster.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...eden-s-economy-seen-among-least-bad-in-europe

Willie99 · Aug 3, 2020

They don't count

The Republican governors of Texas & Florida are both doing an awful job with 29,000,000 & 21,000,000 people respectively, and both have 7,000 deaths

The Democratic governors of NY & NJ are doing an incredible job, despite Trump getting in their way, with populations of 19,000,000 and 9,000,000, they only have 33,000 & 16,000 deaths. "Should be POTUS with all that leadership"

This is how morons think

StevieRay · Aug 3, 2020

Yep. X fits that very well

JavyBaez9 · Aug 3, 2020

Sweden is doing great. Look at the numbers. They have reached quasi-herd immunity. Nice job, Sweden.

X-Files · Aug 3, 2020

[h=1]"How Did Sweden Flatten Its Curve Without a Lockdown?[/h][h=2]— One expert credits a "good-enough strategy"; others worry that it won't last[/h]Despite never implementing a full-scale lockdown, Sweden has managed to flatten its curve, prompting its health leadership to claim victory -- but others question the cost of the strategy, as the country has a far higher death toll than its Scandinavian neighbors.
In late July, Sweden's 7-day moving average of new cases was about 200, down from a peak of around 1,140 in mid-June. Its daily death totals have been in the single digits for two weeks, well below its mid-April peak of 115 deaths in a single day.

However, on a per-capita basis, Sweden far outpaces its Scandinavian neighbors in COVID deaths, with 567 deaths per million people compared with Denmark's 106 deaths per million, Finland's 59 deaths per million, and Norway's 47 deaths per million. The Swedish figure is closer to Italy's 581 deaths per million.
While the positive trends have led Anders Tegnell, PhD, chief epidemiologist at the Swedish Public Health Agency and architect of Sweden's coronavirus strategy, to state that the "Swedish strategy is working," others have criticized the approach, including two dozen Swedish academics who published a recent USA Today editorial.
"In Sweden, the strategy has led to death, grief, and suffering," they wrote. "On top of that, there are no indications that the Swedish economy has fared better than in many other countries. At the moment, we have set an example for the rest of the world on how not to deal with a deadly infectious disease."

The Swedish Public Health Agency has not openly stated that herd immunity was its goal, though many suspect this was the intention. Tegnell told reporters last week he thought the recent trends indicated that immunity was now widespread in the country. But with rates of antibody positivity around 10%, that seems impossible. (Officials at the agency did not respond to MedPage Today's request for comment.)
So how has Sweden managed to get its outbreak under control?
Behavior Change
While Sweden didn't officially lock down, many in the country have described a locked-down "feeling" that has eased in the summer months.
At the start of the outbreak, only high schools and universities closed; daycare and elementary schools have been open. Businesses have also remained open, but typically at reduced hours, and restaurants have functioned at reduced capacity.
Swedes have been asked to keep their distance in public, refrain from non-essential travel, and work from home when possible. Gatherings of more than 50 people are also banned. People age 70 and over are advised to stay away from others as much as possible.

Masks were never required and aren't commonly worn.
This response hasn't changed over time, through the June surge and into today's decline, so there's no definitive explanation for the flattening, though, and experts have several theories.
"Swedes in general have changed their behavior to a great extent during the pandemic and the practice of social distancing as well as physical distancing in public places and at work has been widespread," said Maria Furberg, MD, PhD, an infectious diseases expert at Umea University Hospital in northeastern Sweden.
"During the months of March to early June, all shops were practically empty, people stopped dining with friends, and families stopped seeing even their closest relatives," Furberg told MedPage Today. "A lock-down could not have been more effective. Handwashing, excessive use of hand sanitizers, and staying home at the first sign of a cold became the new normal very quickly."

Mozhu Ding, PhD, an epidemiologist at the famed Karolinska Institute, said the decline is "likely to be a combination of measures taken by individuals, businesses and a widespread information campaign launched by the government."
"Even without a strict lockdown order, many businesses allowed employees to work from home, and universities are offering distance courses to the students," Ding told MedPage Today. "Individuals are also taking personal hygiene more seriously, as items like hand sanitizers and single-use gloves are often sold out in pharmacies and grocery stores."
Immunity
Experts told MedPage Today there weren't clear data to prove Tegnell's assertion of widespread immunity in Sweden.
Furberg said there is likely "some sort of unspecific immunity that protects parts of the population from contracting COVID-19" but it's not necessarily secondary to SARS-CoV-2 exposure.
For instance, a study by the Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital recently found that about 30% of people with mild or asymptomatic COVID showed T-cell-mediated immunity to the virus, even though they tested negative for antibodies.

"This figure is [more than] twice as high as the previous antibody tests, meaning that the public immunity to COVID-19 is probably much higher than what antibody studies have suggested," Ding told MedPage Today. "This is of course very good news from a public health perspective, as it shows that people with negative antibody test results could still be immune to the virus at a cellular level."
Indeed, T-cell immunity is coming into focus as a potentially important factor in COVID infection. A paper published in Nature in mid-July found that among 37 healthy people who had no history of either the first or current SARS virus, more than half had T cells that recognized one or more of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins.
Another 36 people who had mild-to-severe COVID-19 were all found to have T-cell responses to several SARS-CoV-2 proteins, and another 23 people who had SARS-CoV-1 (the virus responsible for the SARS outbreak in 2003) all had lasting memory T cells -- even 17 years later -- that also recognized parts of SARS-CoV-2.
It could be that T cell immunity is the result of a previous infection with common cold coronaviruses, but this hasn't yet been established; nor is it certain that T cell immunity is driving Sweden's decline in COVID cases.
Path Forward
Summertime is another factor that may account for the decline, which began around late June -- not directly because of the weather, but social factors related to it.
Swedes are "outdoors more, and students are not at school," said Anne Spurkland, MD, a professor of immunology at the University of Oslo in Norway.
Also, "perhaps Sweden has finally gotten better control over the disastrous spread of the virus in nursing homes which to some extent can explain their relatively high death rates," Spurkland told MedPage Today. About half of Sweden's 5,730 deaths occurred among those in elder care homes.
Norway is still requiring that Swedes quarantine for 10 days when coming into Norway, and Denmark has not fully reopened its borders to its neighbor yet either.

That doesn't bode well for the Swedish economy. If the goal of avoiding a lockdown was to spare economic woe, its success has been limited.
According to Business Insider, "international tourism and trade are decimated. ... Sweden's National Institute of Economic Research predicts Sweden's GDP will fall 5.4% in 2020, after predicting a 1% rise [in] December 2019. It also expects unemployment to rise around three percentage points, to 9.6%, between the end of 2019 and the end of 2021."
Spurkland said it's still "too early yet to conclude whether the Swedish approach was the wisest over all," as it remains to be seen whether Norway and other countries that did lock down will avoid a second wave of infections in the fall.
Yet she cautions that choosing to take on a higher case load may have health consequences far beyond the immediate infection.
"What we have learned these months is that COVID-19 is not only about death, it is also about ill health," Spurkland said. "Quite a number of people going through the infection have long-term symptoms, that may be stopping them from resuming their daily life. We do not know yet how large a proportion of those who get the virus will fall into this category, but it is certainly a concern."

"So when deciding on taking a herd immunity approach to handle a totally new virus we do not know anything about," she said, "the Swedish government has also unknowingly put the general population at risk for much long-term ill-health caused by the virus."
Furberg doesn't see it that way: "I am very proud of the way Swedes have adapted to the restrictions and regulations and I believe the Public Health Agency of Sweden has picked a good-enough strategy for our country."

Kristina Fiore leads MedPage’s enterprise & investigative reporting team. She’s been a medical journalist for more than a decade and her work has been recognized by Barlett & Steele, AHCJ, SABEW, and others. Send story tips to k.fiore@medpagetoday.com. Follow

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87812

MrBetitall · Aug 3, 2020

Willie99 said:
They don't count

The Republican governors of Texas & Florida are both doing an awful job with 29,000,000 & 21,000,000 people respectively, and both have 7,000 deaths

The Democratic governors of NY & NJ are doing an incredible job, despite Trump getting in their way, with populations of 19,000,000 and 9,000,000, they only have 33,000 & 16,000 deaths. "Should be POTUS with all that leadership"

This is how morons think

Man you are SUCH a fucking idiot. It's painful to watch. Ever occur to you that deaths LAG infections?????

X-Files · Aug 3, 2020

"Spurkland said it's still "too early yet to conclude whether the Swedish approach was the wisest over all," as it remains to be seen whether Norway and other countries that did lock down will avoid a second wave of infections in the fall.

Yet she cautions that choosing to take on a higher case load may have health consequences far beyond the immediate infection.

"What we have learned these months is that COVID-19 is not only about death, it is also about ill health," Spurkland said. "Quite a number of people going through the infection have long-term symptoms, that may be stopping them from resuming their daily life. We do not know yet how large a proportion of those who get the virus will fall into this category, but it is certainly a concern."

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87812

Willie99 · Aug 3, 2020

JavyBaez9 said:
Sweden is doing great. Look at the numbers. They have reached quasi-herd immunity. Nice job, Sweden.

The truth appears to be that the virus has to run it's course. The curves are all very similar. Slow start, rapid growth, fairly quick decline in new cases

The worst thing done by anyone anywhere was Cuomo sending the foxes into the chicken coops (A/K/A sending COVID-19 patients into nursing homes)

X-Files · Aug 3, 2020

"Sweden hoped herd immunity would curb COVID-19. Don't do what we did. It's not working.

Sweden's approach to COVID has led to death, grief and suffering. The only example we're setting is how not to deal with a deadly infectious disease.

25 Swedish doctors and scientists
Opinion contributors

Sweden has often been considered a leader when it comes to global humanitarian issues, regarded as a beacon of light in areas such as accepting refugees and working against global warming. In the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden has also created interest around the world by following its own path of using a “soft” approach — not locking down, introducing mostly voluntary restrictions and spurning the use of masks.
This approach has been perceived as more liberal and has shown up in “Be Like Sweden” signs and chants at U.S. protests. Wherever measures have been lenient, though, death rates have peaked. In the United States, areas that are coming out of lockdown early are suffering, and we are seeing the same in other countries as well.
The motives for the Swedish Public Health Agency's light-touch approach are somewhat of a mystery. Some other countries that initially used this strategy swiftly abandoned it as the death toll began to increase, opting instead for delayed lockdowns. But Sweden has been faithful to its approach.

Why? Gaining herd immunity, where large numbers of the population (preferably younger) are infected and thereby develop immunity, has not been an official goal of the Swedish Public Health Agency. But it has said that immunity in the population could help suppress the spread of the disease, and some agency statements suggest it is the secret goal.
An unnerving death rate

Further evidence of this is that the agency insists on mandatory schooling for young children, the importance of testing has been played down for a long time, the agency refused to acknowledge the importance of asymptomatic spread of the virus (concerningly, it has encouraged those in households with COVID-infected individuals to go to work and school) and still refuses to recommend masks in public, despite the overwhelming evidence of their effectiveness.
In addition, the stated goal of the Swedish authorities was always not to minimize the epidemic but rather slow it down, so that the health care system wouldn’t be overwhelmed.
<figure class="gnt_em gnt_em_img" style="contain: content; display: flex; flex-flow: row wrap; clear: both; width: 660px; margin: 30px 0px; font-size: 18px;">

</figure>Several authorities, including the World Health Organization, have condemned herd immunity as a strategy. "It can lead to a very brutal arithmetic that does not put people and life and suffering at the center of that equation,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said in May.
<aside aria-label="advertisement" class="gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al" style="margin: 14px auto 32px; height: 408px; clear: both; font-size: 18px;">Regardless of whether herd immunity is a goal or a side effect of the Swedish strategy, how has it worked out? Not so well, according to the agency’s own test results. The proportion of Swedes carrying antibodies is estimated to be less than 10%, thus nowhere near herd immunity. Yet, the Swedish death rate is unnerving. Sweden has a death toll greater than the United States: 564 deaths per million inhabitants compared with 444, as of July 27.

Sweden also has a death toll nearly five times greater than that of the other four Nordic countries combined — more than twice per million inhabitants. For a number of weeks, Sweden has been among the top in the world when it comes to reported deaths per capita. And despite this, the strategy in essence remains the same.
Learn from Sweden's mistakes

It is possible that the health agency actually believed that the Swedish approach was the most appropriate and sustainable one, and that the other countries, many of which went into lockdown, would do worse. Perhaps this, and not herd immunity, is the main reason the authorities are desperately clinging to their strategy. Or perhaps an unwillingness to admit early mistakes and take responsibility for thousands of unnecessary deaths plays into this resistance to change. Nevertheless, the result at this stage is unequivocal.

We do believe that Sweden can be used as a model, but not in the way it was thought of initially. It can instead serve as a control group and answer the question of how efficient the voluntary distancing and loose measures in Sweden are compared with lockdowns, aggressive testing, tracing and the use of masks.</aside>

In Sweden, the strategy has led to death, grief and suffering. On top of that, there are no indications that the Swedish economy has fared better than in many other countries. At the moment, we have set an example for the rest of the world on how not to deal with a deadly infectious disease.

In the end, this too shall pass and life will eventually return to normal. New medical treatments will come and improve the prognosis. Hopefully, there will be a vaccine. Stick it out until then. And don’t do it the Swedish way.

[FONT=&quot]Sigurd Bergmann, Ph.D., emeritus professor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Leif Bjermer, Ph.D., professor, Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, Lund University[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Barbara Caracciolo, Ph.D., in epidemiology[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Marcus Carlsson, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics, Lund University[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Lena Einhorn, Ph.D., in virology[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Stefan Einhorn, Ph.D., professor of molecular oncology, Karolinska Institutet[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Andrew Ewing, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and molecular biology, University of Gothenburg[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Manuel Felices, Ph.D., head of endocrine surgery, NÄL Hospital[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Jonas Frisén, Ph.D., professor of stem cell research, Karolinska Institutet[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Marie Gorwa, Ph.D., professor of microbiology, Lund University[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Åke Gustafsson, Ph.D., clinical microbiology, Uppsala University Hospital[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Olle Isacsson, Ph.D., professor of endocrinology, University of Gothenburg[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Claudia Hanson, Ph.D., associate professor, global public health, Karolinska Institutet[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Stefan Hanson, Ph.D., international health, Karolinska Institutet.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Jan Lötvall, Ph.D., professor of clinical allergy, University of Gothenburg[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Bo Lundbäck, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology of respiratory diseases, University of Gothenburg[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Åke Lundkvist, Ph.D., professor of virology, Uppsala University[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér, Ph.D., professor of microbial pathogenesis, Karolinska Institutet[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Finn Nilson, Ph.D., associate professor of risk management, Karlstad University[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Andreas Nilsson, Ph.D., professor of psychology, University of Gothenburg [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Björn Olsen, Ph.D., professor of infectious diseases, Uppsala University[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jens Stilhoff Sörensen, Ph.D., associate professor, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Jakob Svensson, Ph.D., scientific data analysis, Max Planck Institute, Greifswald[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Anders Vahlne, Ph.D., professor of clinical virology, Karolinska Institutet [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dr. Anders Wahlin, Ph.D., professor emeritus of hematology, University of Umeå[/FONT]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...munity-drove-up-death-toll-column/5472100002/

TheComputerGroup · Aug 3, 2020

Herd immunity!!!

X-Files · Aug 3, 2020

"Sweden's unorthodox response to COVID-19: What went wrong?":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aAFAYc31uA

JavyBaez9 · Aug 3, 2020

Stop spamming my thread you cock slurping piece of shit.

StevieRay · Aug 3, 2020

JavyBaez9 said:
Stop spamming my thread you cock slurping piece of shit.

Poor guy is one lost soul. A Miserable fuck

X-Files · Aug 3, 2020

JavyBaez9 said:
Stop spamming my thread you cock slurping piece of shit.

That may happen whenever you cease trolling my threads.

Can't handle the truth, eh?

Freedom of speech, baby!

So you have no response to the facts, eh, that oppose your opinions in post #'s 1 &2?

Or is your attention span too short, or mind too closed, to have even read the articles?

PatsFanatic · Aug 3, 2020

FACTS:

Swedens deaths = 5744
Massachusetts deaths = 8638

Oh and Sweden has 3 million more people.

Yeah, Sweden did it worse @)

JavyBaez9 · Aug 3, 2020

X-Files said:
That may happen whenever you cease trolling my threads.

Can't handle the truth, eh?

Freedom of speech, baby!

So you have no response to the facts, eh, that oppose your opinions in post #'s 1 &2?

Or is your attention span too short, or mind too closed, to have even read the articles?

You live in Canada, fairy boy. You don't get freedom of speech.

JavyBaez9 · Aug 3, 2020

PatsFanatic said:
FACTS:

Swedens deaths = 5744
Massachusetts deaths = 8638

Oh and Sweden has 3 million more people.

Yeah, Sweden did it worse @)

Bingo. And their economy is doing great compared to the rest of the world's drops, and their infections have plummeted and their new deaths are near zero. No stupid ass masks in public as well.

Sweden won.

StevieRay · Aug 3, 2020

PatsFanatic said:
FACTS:

Swedens deaths = 5744
Massachusetts deaths = 8638

Oh and Sweden has 3 million more people.

Yeah, Sweden did it worse @)

Bahahaha. What a troll the retard is

Great Covid News! Sweden's infections rates are declining significantly, showing their method is very likely the best path forward

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