3 ms·
If we want to ask the question what Sweden actually did, the answer is a bit more traditional in terms of science and a bit less interesting for anyone includin
by belorn 5y ago
If we want to ask the question what Sweden actually did, the answer is a bit more traditional in terms of science and a bit less interesting for anyone including the media.
Covid infections are not evenly spread. The most vulnerable people are not evenly spread, as is high risk areas.
Sweden did shut down and restrict a lot of those things. The elder care was compared to prison, with people doing "prison breaks" through open windows. Sports, bath houses, concerts, and similar places were closed down. People were strongly discouraged from using mass transit. Infection were still located mostly in hot zones around the large cities, in general where the large concentration of elderly care is located, and those working there had the full setup with mask and face protection and gloves and so on.
To me it seems like the different strategy can be classified as either targeted or generalized. Sweden went with a mostly targeted approach, although not as effective as it could have been since it was initially a bit delayed.
One other major decision that the Swedish government did was to remove the so called "karensdag". Before the pandemic people who got sick had to go without pay for the first day of the sickness, a measure that was likely there to discourage people from falsely calling in sick. By removing it they made it very clear to people to stay at home if they feel sick, with only 20% reduction in pay if you call in sick.
- Shaanie 5y agoThe point about "karensdag" isn't quite true as the max compensation for it is significantly lower than 80% of your salary (afaik it's 810 SEK for that day).
- belorn 5y agoDidn't know that. 810 SEK for a day after tax represent a 80% monthly salary of around 30k before tax if my math is right, which is slightly lower than the median income which is 32k. That might be significant lower than for most people on HN. It would be interesting to know how they determined that number and how many people that requests the money are hitting the max.
- gerikson 5y agoNot only that. The government also took over the payment of the first 14 days of sick pay - previously paid by the employer.