Coronavirus Pandemic: Swedish Model Brings Higher Death Toll per Capita, Limited Economic Benefit

When Sweden’s government took a more lax approach than other western countries to fighting the coronavirus — it banned events with more than 50 people and shuttered secondary schools and universities but imposed few other restrictions — it was operating on the theory that stricter lockdowns couldn’t do much to save any lives in the long run. The Swedish society and economy would ultimately benefit, the thinking went, by reaching herd immunity more quickly than other countries that locked down.

“About 30 percent of people in Stockholm have reached a level of immunity,” Karin Ulrika Olofsdotter, the Swedish ambassador to the United States, told NPR on April 26. “We could reach herd immunity in the capital as early as next month.”

About the Author

John McCormack

John McCormack is a former Washington correspondent for National Review and was a fellow at the National Review Institute.

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When Sweden’s government took a more lax approach than other western countries to fighting the coronavirus — it banned events with more than 50 people and shuttered secondary schools and universities but imposed few other restrictions — it was operating on the theory that stricter lockdowns couldn’t do much to save any lives in the long run. The Swedish society and economy would ultimately benefit, the thinking went, by reaching herd immunity more quickly than other countries that locked down.

“About 30 percent of people in Stockholm have reached a level of immunity,” Karin Ulrika Olofsdotter, the Swedish ambassador to the United States, told NPR on April 26. “We could reach herd immunity in the capital as early as next month.”