@TCIB,
@SebastianBlue here's my take on it:
There have been 900 cases and 2 death in Sweden so far. The last five days have seen 100, 100, 200, 150, 150 new cases. So 700 of 900 in the last 5 days. The second death is worrying. I heard on the radio that even though the patient was 80+ there were no underlying problems.
I don't think Sweden have had the same "herd immunity" policy as the UK until now, though. They started tracing contacts with known cases but at the end of this last week decided that this was no longer practical as the virus had spread into the wider community, at least in Stockholm. Now the focus has changed to protecting the vunerable as the virus spreads. I wouldn't say that this was necessarily plan "A" like in the UK but it's the only viable option now. It waw half term in Stockholm a couple of weeks ago and too many people came home from Italy and Iran for them to keep a lid on it. Where I work there were 8 of 120 people who had to self-isolate for two weeks afterwards.
The planning seems to be beter in Sweden than the UK.
People who self-isolate get pay or sick pay. A lot of standard surgeries have been cancelled. gatherings of more than 500 people have been banned and most sporting events have been postponed. Prison visits have been cancelled and walk-in surgeries have stopped - you have to call for an appointment now. Schools are generally staying open mostly because closing them will take people out of the work force to look after healthy children. They close if there are suspected or confirmed cases. But children and teachers aren't generally in the high risk groups, either. Most of these rules have come in over the last few days. They aren't ruling out lock downs, either.
There is a principle in Sweden called the "responsibility principle" that says: if you are responsible for something under normal circumstances, then you are responsible for it during a crisis too. So a lot is happening at local and company level. A lot of companies are asking people to work from home, banning travel, on-site visitors etc. The Employers organisations and Unions have agreed a plan to reduce working hours from 1 May across the board if necessay upto a 20% reuction in working hours. The governmnet have allowed for a 40% reduction in hours but a maximum 20% reduction in pay. They have introduced a rule for companies so tax can be delayed for up to a year.
There seems to be more planning ahead in Sweden than the UK, even though the plan has changed in the last few days. And there seems to be more coherence between what the government is saying and what they are doing, than in the UK. And there is more information about what the next step in the process will be. Of course everyone is being told that their government has the best plan, nobody is saying "Oh, the Koreans have a better plan, but we're not doing that."
We should have gone skiing yesterday, but we decided not to go. Today the Foreign Office have advised against all foreign travel. Holiday companies have cancelled all flights out are saying they will send out empty planes to fly people home. I imagine they will be asked to self-isolate when they get home. I posted earlier that the thing that we can controll is the "actual" R0 - how much we spread the disease to others. Sweden seems to be implementing policies that will flatten the curve more than the UK is.
