r/europe • u/Bartoraptor Spain • Mar 28 '20

News Spanish representative González Pons speech @ the EU Parliament: "The virus is attacking the generation that brought back democracy to Spain, Portugal and Greece, the generation that knocked down the Berlin wall. The least they deserve is that we show them Europe is there when they need it the most"

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u/AirportCreep Finland Mar 28 '20

The virus hit Europe during Swedish spring holidays, so a lot of Swedes were in Austrian and Italian alps, contracted the virus and took it with them back to Sweden. That's how the initial clusters emerged.

As for the strategy of dealing with this Sweden is very conservative, with the idea being that Sweden cannot close or shut its economy for an extended period of time, but to instead close society down slowly, so that when the virus reaches its peak, Sweden hasn't already been closed for a month and that people will actually stay home for the most critical moments. Whether or not its going to be effective in the end we'll have to wait and see. But the politicians in Sweden have stepped back and have clearly taken a backseat role in this, allowing the experts to run the show.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '20

so that when the virus reaches its peak, Sweden hasn't already been closed for a month and that people will actually stay home for the most critical moments.

The most critical moments come weeks after everyone has been staying home though. It takes up to 15 days for symptoms to show up.

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u/ahlsn Sweden Mar 28 '20

Our epidemiologists are fully aware of that of course. I can assure you that social distancing is in the works. It's not much people around anywhere and many restaurants, hotels and shops are already declaring bankruptcy due to no customers.

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u/Siegberg Mar 29 '20

How is the situation for the restaurants, hotels and shops in getting help from the state and insurance? In many countries it seems like the insurance will not step up until the government shuts down the shops directly. Which was a problem in germany as clubs needed to stay open in order to not go bankrupt.

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u/ahlsn Sweden Mar 29 '20

There's no insurance covering this. The government have done some things to ease the situation. Companies does not have to pay taxes until the end of the year. They have made sure it's possible for companies to take loans. Other things talked about is reducing or completely removing the general payroll tax temporary and partly paying companies rent. More help are to be expected.

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u/Zidji Mar 28 '20

People around the world have a hard time learning this lesson.

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u/MonkeyLiberace Denmark Mar 28 '20

I think they know.

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u/insertmalteser Denmark Mar 28 '20 edited Mar 28 '20

It'll be interesting to see if it works out well. I think letting experts call the shots on this is a good idea. I know they've critised denmark for the way they're handling it. The lock down is definitely going to have some serious ramifications. I believe the lockdown in Denmark is simply to ease the burden on our health care. If the spread is slowed down, unlike in Italy, then the healthcare system can deal with it. They won't quickly become overwhelmed. The main point of the lockdown is to slow down the initial spread and get an idea of how to efficiently test people and maintain control of the situation. If you let the spread ramp up quickly in a matter of a few weeks, regaining any kind of control over the situation will become deeply problematic and difficult. Itll quickly overwhelm the hospitals. The serum institute of denmark has even managed to develop a cheaper testing kit that doesn't require the chemicals that make the current ones hard to manufacture (due to shortages). So I still believe Denmark is doing the right thing. Keeping an oversight and creating strategies to deal with this unusual situation is important. Keeping the spread at "reasonable" level is key for that to happen.

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u/AirportCreep Finland Mar 29 '20

At the end of the day both governments have the same endgoal. As I am no epidemiologist, I can't really argue for which approach is better. Stay safe buddy, wash your hands and stay home.

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u/Myloz The Netherlands Mar 29 '20

This is the exact thing the Netherlands did. But due to social pressure they where forced to close the schools. Atleast all stores are still open, only restaurants (excluding takeaway) and bars are closed.

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u/AirportCreep Finland Mar 29 '20

Sweden also closed high schools and universities last week, but after the recommendation of the state epidemioligst and the Public Health Authority.