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From United Press International
Diverging from much of the world, Sweden let COVID-19 spread in hopes the population would develop "herd immunity." But the risky strategy failed, a new report finds.
Rather than imposing a hard lockdown in March as other countries did, the Scandinavian nation relied on individual responsibility to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. This is the idea of "folkvett" -- common sense of the people -- and the approach made headlines at the time.
Gyms, stores and restaurants remained open schools were open for kids up to age 16 while gatherings of more than 50 people were banned.
Authorities predicted that 40% of the people in Stockholm would get the disease and develop protective antibodies by May. The actual prevalence, however, was around 15%, according to the study published Aug. 11 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
RELATED Common cold could boost COVID-19 immunity, study finds
"It is clear that not only are the rates of viral infection, hospitalization and mortality [per million population] much higher than those seen in neighboring Scandinavian countries, but also that the time-course of the epidemic in Sweden is different, with continued persistence of higher infection and mortality well beyond the few critical weeks period seen in Denmark, Finland and Norway," said researcher Dr. David Goldsmith, a retired physician in London.
COMMENT:-
Will this put a stop to those who claim that absolutely no restrictions on contact or other preventive measures are needed in the US because "That's what Sweden did and it worked."?
In a pig's ear it will.
However the internally linked article about the common cold is likely going to cause some people to advocate catching any disease which causes pneumonia in order to prevent catching COVID-19 and that will likely cause some people to advocate sitting in cold drafts with your feet wet as some sort of "magic bullet".
Free spread of COVID-19 in Sweden didn't lead to 'herd immunity'
Diverging from much of the world, Sweden let COVID-19 spread in hopes the population would develop "herd immunity." But the risky strategy failed, a new report finds.
Rather than imposing a hard lockdown in March as other countries did, the Scandinavian nation relied on individual responsibility to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. This is the idea of "folkvett" -- common sense of the people -- and the approach made headlines at the time.
Gyms, stores and restaurants remained open schools were open for kids up to age 16 while gatherings of more than 50 people were banned.
Authorities predicted that 40% of the people in Stockholm would get the disease and develop protective antibodies by May. The actual prevalence, however, was around 15%, according to the study published Aug. 11 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
RELATED Common cold could boost COVID-19 immunity, study finds
"It is clear that not only are the rates of viral infection, hospitalization and mortality [per million population] much higher than those seen in neighboring Scandinavian countries, but also that the time-course of the epidemic in Sweden is different, with continued persistence of higher infection and mortality well beyond the few critical weeks period seen in Denmark, Finland and Norway," said researcher Dr. David Goldsmith, a retired physician in London.
COMMENT:-
Will this put a stop to those who claim that absolutely no restrictions on contact or other preventive measures are needed in the US because "That's what Sweden did and it worked."?
In a pig's ear it will.
However the internally linked article about the common cold is likely going to cause some people to advocate catching any disease which causes pneumonia in order to prevent catching COVID-19 and that will likely cause some people to advocate sitting in cold drafts with your feet wet as some sort of "magic bullet".