There has been a lot talk recently about Sweden in particular with their obscure method for fighting the coronavirus. Their take is to keep everything open, but encourage safe distancing in order to expose their people to small amounts of the virus to build up their immunity.
It sounds like it could be effective, but it’s not proven. At the moment they’re basically risking their whole country on a hunch. This post isn’t about if what they’re doing is right, wrong, or if it will even work though. This post is about explaining the reasons why other countries shouldn’t fall into the trap of “be like Sweden” if in fact their case rate does produce positive results.
- The abnormal size of Sweden, their cities, and their population.
I’ve seen multiple people trying to compare Sweden’s case rate to other countries, but I don’t think it works well at all even when scaled down. They have an unusual ratio between their population, cities and the amount of land they have. The rate of how viruses spread in an open environment heavily depends on the amount of people per sq mile.
Sweden is big, but it hosts about 1/10 of its population in Stockholm. So when you’re talking about Sweden and the coronavirus you aren’t talking about Sweden, you’re mainly talking about Stockholm because the rest of the population is scattered around the country in much smaller cities.
If you’re talking about Stockholm in general though, you’re no longer talking about the other 9 million people in Sweden, you’re only focusing on about 1 million people in a small area (or 1.9 million people if you want to count Gothenburg and Malmö).
Okay, so now you’re comparing a roughly 1.9 million high risk population to what? Italy? Even in total population and size, Italy is about 1/3 smaller than Sweden with 6 times more people… It is also important to note that Italy has many high attraction cities meaning travel between cities is more likely to happen on a large scale in Italy compared to Sweden.
- Cleanliness and fitness.
Sweden has been known for being one of the cleanest countries for years and that hasn’t changed. This is obviously going to make a big difference when you’re talking about a pandemic. Sweden has also been known for their healthiness with fitness.
Like many countries in Europe biking is one of the staples to get to places, but also beyond that Swedes take additional exercise as a standard. Exercise isn’t really viewed as a bonus as it is in the US, it’s viewed as a staple and necessity. Swedes live a very healthy outdoor lifestyle and I’m assuming this is a big part of their social aspect. It ties into their culture and is explained more in the next point.
- Cultural differences.
Swedes have unique cultural differences and values very different than other countries. First of all Swedes are typically humble. In Sweden people aren’t pressured to be extroverts. They’re also not praised/shunned for being an introvert. The best way to describe Sweden is that they try to embody the essence of balance. This leaves them in a place where everyone just kind of does their own thing. In Sweden it isn’t rude to walk past a stranger and not greet them.
This trait alone would make social distancing a lot easier compared to the United States. There’s a certain unsaid stigma in the United States with social distancing from all strangers (in public), an almost hollowness feel that eventually leads to actions that isn’t social distancing anymore. This just has to do with cultural differences though and how we were raised. I imagine a time like this even as dark as it is there wouldn’t be this stigma for Swedes relating to distancing. This alone is a battle for Americans and if America were to open everything up with the law of “social distancing”, I don’t think it would be long until Americans break that law.
I said Sweden is about balance and there’s nothing more true than that. They even have a specific word for this that doesn’t translate perfect to any other English word: Lagom. They live life by this whole concept. Lagom means “Not too much, not too little, just enough”. They apply this everyday to everything they do. One common misconception is that it’s about being perfect. For lack of a better term it’s more about being a minimalist or conserving the correct amount of how much you need to live a happy life. For example:
- This means eating the correct portion and not too much or too little.
- Dressing nice, but not too fancy or too casual
- Even if you have more money, living a nice life without the bells and whistles on the outside.
It is an interesting concept, one I feel can stagnate a virus versus an American society where excess is sought-after. Think about this, the less packages you get in the mail the less chance of a virus getting inside your home. The less money you use or do transactions with the less transfer of potential viruses. Though it is not proven coronavirus is transmitted through food, essentially if you’re someone with a lagom lifestyle you’re probably consuming at least half as much food as Americans which translates to 2 times less bacteria and potential viruses being consumed.
At the beginning I said we shouldn’t try to “be like Sweden”, but after all these great values we should, shouldn’t we? Yes, but you have to understand it’s not realistic (at least short term). These are all values that have been passed down for generations and isn’t something learned at will. The lagom mindset is ingrained into Swedes from how they were raised, it’s natural. You don’t change the core values of another country within a year span or even 5 years. These are just some values of why Sweden has done so well during this time despite being open. It’s kind of like they just had the right cards at the right time. I imagine if their cases do go up quickly, it will most likely be because of Stockholm. I wish their country the best.
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