I think people may not be getting the full picture here. As a Swede, I’m pretty used to my country being used as a positive or negative example on all kinds of issues and Covid-19 is clearly not an exception. I see the Swedish response to the pandemic being described as laxe or laissez-faire but very little in the way of analysis of the reasoning behind the policies or any insight into the workings of Swedish society. The Swedish Covid-19 policies are different that in most comparable countries, to be sure - but they are considered policies based on science and knowledge of Swedish culture.
Every country is unique in its own way. Sweden is a special case in that we are (perhaps sadly) rather good at social distancing even under normal circumstances. We have a higher percentage of single-person households than almost any other country (almost half of our households consist of one person). We are also very age-segregated, partly due to the fact that our youngsters leave home earlier than in most European countries. We are famously (infamously?) socially distant at the best of times - personal independence and respect for the personal space of others are typical Swedish traits. Much of this is normally held up as negatives but is now working to our advantage. Add to this that most Swedes have access to a fast internet connection and many of us (myself included) have the possibility of working from home and we have a situation where recommendations rather than direct orders may just be enough to achieve a high dgree of social distancing. There’s also a clear reluctance to impose rules that may be very difficult to enforce.
Another Swedish quirk is our unusually high confidence in our authorities. We tend to generally trust our elected officials and the experts that are advising them. This works both ways - the Swedish government proposes measures for social distancing that are very similar to other countries but they do it in the form of recommendations rather than decrees, placing a high degree of trust in the Swedish people to behave responsibly. There is also a centuries-old tradition in Sweden of fiercly independent government agencies. Any attempt by a cabinet member to override or in any way interfere with the workings of an agency is immediately branded as “ministerial rule” which is a potentially career-ending no-no. I think it’s safe to say that our counterpart to the CDC is basically running this show.
Easter will be a big test of this mutual trust between the people and the government. We may not be very religious but we appreciate having a few days off from work and visit family. Easter is traditionally the biggest travelling holiday in Sweden after Christmas and Midsummer. The government’s recommendation is clear: don’t travel unless you have to. Even our king made a rare address to his people with the same recommendation: there will be other Easters - stay home for this one.
I believe the Swedish Covid-19 approach should be seen as a balancing act between on the one hand keeping the number of hospitalized patients at a level that is manageable for our healthcare system and protecting high-risk groups (mainly the elderly) and on the other hand trying to come as close as possible to reaching herd immunity in time for the second wave of infections that is likely to come after the summer. The decision to keep primary and pre-schools open along with bars and restaurants (although with recommendations against crowding) is in line with this thinking. It’s noteworthy that the public health authorities in both Norway and Denmark advised their governments to keep primary and pre-schools open but were overruled - a reflection of a clear difference in the relationship between the government and its agencies.
A very effective lockdown can in some ways become a victim of its own success. A lockdown can’t last forever and if a large part of the population hasn’t been infected when the lockdown is lifted, there’s a huge potential for a second wave of infection. We’re all hoping that we’ll have effective drugs and/or a vaccine at that point but there’s of course no guarantee of that. Whether the Swedish Covid-19 policies are sensible or misguided, we probably won’t know until at leat the end of this year.
For a Swedish (and perhaps slightly rose-tinted) counter-view, this article may be of interest: