Dear Chris,
Thank you very much for your daily updates, I have watched them since January and because of that I was prepared for what was coming. I have also prepared my surrounding in Sweden and the Netherlands where I am originally from.
I write you since I what to give you another light on the Swedish approach to handle this pandemic. I have full confidence in the honesty and transparency of the Swedish government, even though I also wanted to close the schools and working places as well until a few weeks ago.
I work for an American company as the Finance director for Europe, normally I travel all around Europe, every week one or two countries. We had scheduled a management in the Netherland in the first week of March with people from all over Europe.
The 3 Swedes that were requested to come were protesting that this physical meeting had to take place. But apparently we were the only ones that were skeptical towards this meeting, the rest of Europe was not there yet, especially Belgium and the Netherlands were far from mentally prepared.
End of February, I announced to my friends from the Netherlands that I would not go skiing to the Alps this year by the end of March. They have made a lot of fun about me. Two weeks later I told them that they should start to accept that the annual trip would not happen this year. Again, they had a big laugh and didn’t take it serious. This is a illustrative difference in mentality between the Netherlands and Sweden.
Now about Sweden.
These rules are always in place:
- Everybody that feels sick stays at home; salary is fully paid.
- If your child is sick, you stay at home with your sick child. You get paid; not full salary but enough to last a long time.
- It is your responsibility that you or your children do not infect others.
And now in corona time we added:
- Elderly citizens interact as little as possible with the younger generations. There are many voluntary initiatives where people standup and support the elderly generations with all kinds of errands.
My frustration is that facemask are still rarely seen in my small town, but I hear that in the larger cities the wearing of facemask is much more common.
Note that the physical size of Sweden is 450 thousand square km., that is larger than Germany but only with a population of 10M people. Social distancing does not feel odd for Swedes as it does in other European cultures. We have relatively easily adapted this new reality.
The Swedish government is very transparent and also admitting that the current rules can only be at this level if everybody is following them and if the spread is not getting out of control. We understand the risk of asymptomatic spreaders but that risk is currently accepted. The regulations in Sweden are there not for anyone to raise political gain from it but to prepare the country for a long mitigation period.
Every year when I do my taxes, I have to swallow again when I see that I pay 60% in income tax. Note, lower salaries pay a lower tax in %.
But, my healthcare is for free.
My kids get good education for free.
If I am sick or my kids, I can stay at home and get paid.
Many entrepreneurial spirits drive this country forward in an amazing speed. The educational system is preparing kids to think for themselves.
But most of all, citizens feel safe and united to a much higher extend than what you see in other European countries.
These 6 lines also counts for Norway, Finland and Denmark, very similar countries and political structure, all safe and happy societies.
I thank you so much for your daily update, it has helped me and my surrounding to be prepared and not to panic.
If you ever come to Sweden you are welcome. We prepare dinner from our garden
Good luck
Siebren (You are welcome to use this email and my name if you want)
Thank you Siebren for writing this email and for the kind offer! Yes, I'd love to see Sweden someday. My grandfather was from there. He died when I was 12, and I never found out (or remembered?) where he was from or who my relatives there might be.
