Letter from Deborah, Feb. 2, 2022

Sweden is dropping all restrictions February 9th.

Tegnell resurfaced after an absence of months to lead the press conference. He has certainly aged during the pandemic (although my god has it been 2 years?), but otherwise he seemed relaxed and happy. When asked if the pandemic was over, he actually smiled, but then said no - we need to look at the global picture, cases are still high.

Everything is completely open and goodbye to vax passes (they had only been required for events of more than 100 people). Interestingly there was no direct mention of the vax passes in the press release announcing the end of restrictions so I had to dig around on the Public Health Agency’s website to get clarification. And then they were not mentioned initially by Tegnell nor were they listed on his slides. Finally a journalist referred to them directly and Tegnell said they “had no use at present and there was no plan to re-implement them” - hmmm perhaps trying to bury that ugly chapter of the pandemic? He also said discussions were now ongoing about inter-country travel restrictions - my guess is that the borders between the Nordic countries will be fully open soon - very important for business here. Another journalist claimed the EU was pressing to have vax passes continue for EU travel until 2023, disappointing if true, but I have not confirmed this.

Tests will be reserved for healthcare environments. If you think you have C19, you should not test yourself and you should stay home until you are “symptom-free”, but there is no set number of days you need to stay home and your family does not need to quarantine, they can go as they please.

The journalists asked if it was prudent to drop all restrictions while cases continue to surge (including deaths), to which Tegnell replied that the healthcare system is not under pressure and that is the most important factor. The increase in deaths he said was proportionate to the high level of infections.

He wouldn’t be drawn into a discussion of immunity levels, but there must be truth to Sweden having higher immunity levels. And kids have been in school the entire time, so that must create a buffer of sorts. (Fyi no recommended vax for the under 12s). There has certainly been a lot less fear here. I have triple-vaxxed friends and family hunkered down in Toronto and I am not sure how they will be able to restart their lives, they have been so terrorised. But still, the spike in Ontario ICU is quite remarkable. Sweden doesn’t move the elderly into ICU, I believe they are treated in place in their care facilities, perhaps that is a difference?