Corona Tzar Anders Tegnell also needs to be protected from himself
Sweden like Norway and the other Nordic countries is used to top the foremost of statistics when it comes to being an admirable society in all sorts of ways. Democracy, freedom of speech, inequality, accepting refugees, best country to race a child, women equality, and fighting global warming.
Greta Thunberg, Pippi, Agnetha, and Ann-Frid from ABBA, Sweden has fostered strong women, it is the home nation to the Nobel Prizes except for the Peace Price wich Nobel left for Norway to handle.
Now Jan Guillou famous author and tough journalist is growing sour on some of his Norwegian “pen palls” in his mailbox because some of them point out that Sweden seems to get the fight against the Coronavirus wrong under the advice of chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.
The numbers for the Nordic countries are telling; by July 23. Sweden has lost almost 6000 lives to the virus, Denmark 612, Finland 329, and Norway 255. If you take in to account the difference in population, Sweden still has 10 times more deaths than Norway. In fact WHO death statistics per 100. 000 inhabitants put Belgium at the top with 85. Sweden is in fifth place with 56. Norway is far down the list with 5. The world average is 8.
Tegnell argumenterar idag att vi inte behöver munskydd i Sverige för att vi – till skillnad från andra länder – klarar att hålla avstånd. Varje försök jag gjort till att åka kollektivt har visat något helt annat.
— Amanda Sokolnicki (@A_Sokolnicki) July 22, 2020
Norway and Denmark went for an almost total lockdown when Sweden choose to stay open. Jan Guillou tries to explain the differences with the different traditions for winter holidays: Norwegians go skiing in Norway. Swedes prefer to travel to the Alps. The Danes do not ski.
Can you believe it is that simple?
One would have to be tone-deaf if one does not understand that the death toll is related to the choice of strategy.
Still, Anders Tegnell in public appearances still offers advice on how Norway and other countries should handle the virus (!) Boris Johnson also believed in herd immunity until he himself caught the virus, even though it meant millions of UK citizens would die (!)
In a text published by USA Today, 25 Swedish doctors and researchers warn Americans against choosing the same strategy as Sweden in the fight against the coronavirus:
Sweden hoped herd immunity would curb COVID-19. Don’t do what we did. It’s not working.
It is not that Sweden value peoples live less than the other Nordic countries, they invented the car belt and two of the worlds most safe car brands; Volvo and Saab, it is more like the swedes have more respect towards authority than its neighbors. And after all Anders Tegnell is their Corona Tzar, whereas the other Nordic countries have had both politicians and epidemiologists handling this pandemic together.
In Norway, we are used to looking at Sweden as our kind of big brother, as they often behave more correctly and responsibly, but this time, how does this look to the rest of the world?
