Despite its obviously morbid undertone the Danish-Swedish experiment looks to reveal some worthwhile data on public management of a disease outbreak.
For those of you who are unaware of this Nordic side act - the two countries are following very different strategies in coping with the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Danes have opted for a strong lockdown (similar to the US, Canada and the UK at present) while the Swedes have chosen to lock down only the vulnerable, encourage but not enforce social distancing and keep the country's businesses open. High school and universities in Sweden have closed (they are operating via e-learning) but children below 16 are for the most part attending school.
Like the Dutch, who are following a similar policy in the low countries, the Swedes are banking on herd immunity to kick in and eventually halt the spread of the pathogen.
Since the demographics for each country are rather similar from an epidemiological status the results could be illuminating.
It is indeed a big gamble but it could pay dividends for the Swedes if they can emerge from this no worse than the Danes but with an economy that has been spared the worst.
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