Sweden's failed experiment
14/5/20 20:24![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fridi posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticsWhen it transpired that Sweden was going its own way in the fight with coronavirus, the so called herd immunity, the elderly people here were promised a reliable defense against the infection. It was clear that in a society that prefers the voluntary principle to restrictions and sanctions, this risk group would have to be extremely well guarded.
But, come Easter, it became evident that Sweden had failed catastrophically on that front. The data shows this very eloquently. The total deaths by yesterday were 3,313, which is more than 3 times the rate in all neighboring countries Denmark, Sweden and Norway combined.
The bulk of the victims are elderly people from retirement homes, or ones who were being served by the local social services. One could argue that Sweden has sacrificed its elderly people, more or less.
Even some government officials, who until recently used to show a lot of confidence, are now admitting they had failed the older generation. Their excuse: we didn't know it would be that bad in the retirement homes.
Except, all of this could've been prevented. It could've been foreseen upon a closer investigation. This health crisis has exposed some systematic failures in the health care system of a country that's been widely praised around the world (and for many good reasons, including health care).
And it's not the reason some of our libertarian friends might want to imagine. In fact, Sweden has long pursued a policy they'd very much appreciate: austerity, widespread funding cuts, and privatization in the sector. This has led to a situation where the retirement homes systematically suffer shortages of all sorts. Bottom line: greed, and privatization has cost those lives.
Surprised? Wasn't Sweden supposed to be a socialist utopia/dystopia, depending on your standpoint? What gives?
It's more than clear at this point that the experiment has failed on many levels. For instance, the front-line health workers were never tested for coronavirus. Also, the health authorities didn't pay much attention to the asymptomatic infections.
Now that the shit has hit the fan, the authorities have finally ventured into lockdown mode. The result was almost immediately noticeable: the infection rate subsided somewhat. Prime minister Lovren is now saying the living conditions in the retirement homes have been improved, without going into detail. But one thing's for sure: it seems no one is feeling personally responsible for the disaster we've gone through. Sound familiar?
But, come Easter, it became evident that Sweden had failed catastrophically on that front. The data shows this very eloquently. The total deaths by yesterday were 3,313, which is more than 3 times the rate in all neighboring countries Denmark, Sweden and Norway combined.
The bulk of the victims are elderly people from retirement homes, or ones who were being served by the local social services. One could argue that Sweden has sacrificed its elderly people, more or less.
Even some government officials, who until recently used to show a lot of confidence, are now admitting they had failed the older generation. Their excuse: we didn't know it would be that bad in the retirement homes.
Except, all of this could've been prevented. It could've been foreseen upon a closer investigation. This health crisis has exposed some systematic failures in the health care system of a country that's been widely praised around the world (and for many good reasons, including health care).
And it's not the reason some of our libertarian friends might want to imagine. In fact, Sweden has long pursued a policy they'd very much appreciate: austerity, widespread funding cuts, and privatization in the sector. This has led to a situation where the retirement homes systematically suffer shortages of all sorts. Bottom line: greed, and privatization has cost those lives.
Surprised? Wasn't Sweden supposed to be a socialist utopia/dystopia, depending on your standpoint? What gives?
It's more than clear at this point that the experiment has failed on many levels. For instance, the front-line health workers were never tested for coronavirus. Also, the health authorities didn't pay much attention to the asymptomatic infections.
Now that the shit has hit the fan, the authorities have finally ventured into lockdown mode. The result was almost immediately noticeable: the infection rate subsided somewhat. Prime minister Lovren is now saying the living conditions in the retirement homes have been improved, without going into detail. But one thing's for sure: it seems no one is feeling personally responsible for the disaster we've gone through. Sound familiar?
(no subject)
Date: 15/5/20 01:15 (UTC)As elsewhere, the people in long-term care and those caring for them took the hit harder than the rest of us so far. And I am suspicious enough and paranoid enough to suspect that this was expected as a consequence of sins of omission. In more than one country.
(no subject)
Date: 15/5/20 07:26 (UTC)I was hoping the Sweden might just avoid getting to this stage of things.
Welcome to the club, alas.
The Indian state of Kerala, on the Malabar coast has an average income of >$3K and 34 million people. They have had 4 deaths. Admittedly they have a sizeable socialist/communist political community and are overall a bit less educated than we are in the West, yet even in this relative ignorance and poverty they can have the situation explained to them, and they reacted rather better than we did.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/the-coronavirus-slayer-how-keralas-rock-star-health-minister-helped-save-it-from-covid-19
We didn't react properly because we were complacent and didn't think it would affect us in our ivory towers. Metaphorically speaking it's time to put our leaders' severed heads on spikes; they have failed us, with some notable exceptions.