No Shutdowns – This Country Handles Coronavirus Differently

Most of Europe, Asia, and North America are now under varying forms of lockdowns, while this EU country has kept schools, cafes, and ski hills open. Experts are divided on the strategy, but the Swedish government believes their strategy is sufficient and people will follow social distancing guidelines without mandated restrictions.

Schools up to the ninth grade are staying open as normal, restaurants and ski hills will remain open, and buses show no signs of lockdown like the rest of Europe. Instead the Swedish government has targetted large gatherings, and restricted bars and restaurants to only serving those at tables while spacing the tables out more than usual. They believe these measures combined with urging high risk groups to self-isolate will be sufficient to slow the spread of the virus without harsher lockdown measures.

That is not to say life in Sweden is carrying on completely unaffected, as an estimated nearly 50% of workers in Stockholm have moved to working remotely, up to 90% in Stockholm’s largest companies which are able to have most work done at home At the core of the strategy is counting on individuals and companies to take responsibility and allow employees to work from home and avoid large gatherings, while still allowing life to carry on mostly as normal.

Some cite the high level of trust in the country’s public institutions as the reason Swedes are willingly following these restrictions and working from home despite no explicit bans. Another factor may be more Swedes living alone or in smaller households, over 50% of Swedish households are a single person and simply working from home cuts out the vast majority of virus risk. In comparison, it is common in Italy for three or even four generations of the same family to live together in larger households making spread to elderly family members a bigger risk.