Friday, April 17, 2020

You Know What They Call A Pandemic In Sweden?

     They call it the same as anywhere else.  Those stories your friends are sharing about how "Sweden hasn't done social distancing, and they have a lower (or the same) rate of infection as we do" are, you guessed it, wrong!

     Looks like the virus has been late to arrive in lovely Sweden, and good for them, but it's there now, it's been there awhile, and looky here at a few quotes from the official guidelines:

-Limit social contact and keep a distance from others in public:  Binding recommendations issued on April 1st require everyone in Sweden to limit their social contact and keep a distance from others in public.      The new guidelines state that every person in Sweden must "keep a distance" from others in indoor and outdoor locations such as shops, offices, museums, libraries, and waiting rooms.

     Also:

-Work from home if possible:  The Public Health Agency has advised everyone who can do so to work from home, and for employers to offer employees this option if at all possible, even if it is not the norm.

     So, hey, kids, the Swedes are doing what everyone else is doing. It took me a couple of minutes to run this down, and that included a quick chase through Snopes that wasn't productive.  Yes, they're not cracking down quite as harshly at many other countries in Europe; much like the U. S., the government is asking people and companies to be responsible and they're complying.  It's not "business as usual" in Sweden.

     Do your homework. Slacking off, sharing shiny memes, you might as well be be outside smoking for all the good you're doing -- except at least then, the damage you do would be limited to yourself.

     Sourced here.  More information here.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the voice of reason.
    It might also be necessary to add that even in Michigan habeas corpus has not been suspended and martial law has not been declared. There seem to be more than a few folks convinced the Constitution has been overthrown by all these quarantine orders.

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  2. Numbers are still low in my region of my state, and I'm concerned that people will feel like "wolf has been cried" and they'll come out, just in time to get hit with the disease as it accelerates here.

    Also, people are not taking some of the recommendations seriously: the only people I have seen on my few joints out to the grocery store in masks were people who were much older, or who looked like they were in less-than-ideal health. I sewed myself a couple masks (thanks, mom, for those skills!) and I'm masking up because even if it's not 100% protection, I figure it has to be SOME protection. I'm also staying home as much as possible (grateful I can wfh) and only making weekly/every 10 day grocery runs. Even if my fellow residents don't take this seriously, I will, as much as I practicably can. I'll go back to in the classroom in the fall if they say it's happening, but I won't be going out in public much, not until there's a vaccine or clear evidence we've squashed spread down to nearly nil

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