The Swedish Model Trades More Disease for Less Economic Damage

On May 8, Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell gave an interview via Zoom from a parked car. The hot pink cord of the earbuds plugged into his phone flapped distractingly in the foreground. Before this year, it would’ve been hard to scare up 10 journalists to listen to him or any other epidemiologist, but Tegnell drew 450 reporters and other curious people from 60 countries. An additional 10,000 have since listened to the recording of the colloquy with Joyce Barnathan, president of the International Center for Journalists.

The next few weeks or months will tell whether Tegnell’s strategy is brilliant or—as many experts outside of Sweden believe—benighted. The Swedish government has deferred to him and his fellow scientists to set the rules for a relaxed semi-shutdown of Swedish society in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Gatherings of more than 50 people are banned, but Swedes have continued eating in restaurants, shopping, going to work, getting haircuts, and sending children under 16 to school. Few Swedes wear masks. Bloomberg Economics expects the economy to shrink 5.6% in 2020, vs. 8.1% for the nations of the euro zone.