Covid-19-pandemin och den svenska strategin

Epidemiologi, postmodernism och svensk exceptionalism

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and the Swedish strategy: Epidemiology, postmodernism and Swedish exceptionalism

Aims: The aim is to characterize the underlying epidemiological ideas behind the Swedish COVID-19 strategy in the spring of 2020 and their plausible relation to Swedish exceptionalism and postmodern view of science. The aim is not to finally evaluate the long-term handling of the pandemic in Sweden. Results: Overconfidence in natural herd immunity (although not officially stated), individual responsibility (in a pandemic needing community-centered approaches) and evidence-based medicine (predominantly applied to protective measures), and neglect to coordinate with the WHO, other EU countries and the Nordic countries, may be associated with Swedish exceptionalism and a postmodern view of science and society. Conclusions: Epidemiological handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and Swedish exceptionalism and postmodernism seems to have been a questionable and fatal combination in the initial phase of the pandemic.