Sweden’s polarising pandemic response
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2022
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When much of Europe went into lockdown at the start of pandemic, Sweden’s lighter touch strategy got lots of attention. Fans of the approach say it was a huge success that showed lockdowns were pointless. Opponents say it has been a disaster. But what do the numbers say?
In this episode of More Or Less, Tim Harford and journalist Keith Moore carve a nuanced path through one of the pandemic’s most polarising approaches.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service with a program that makes a simple |
| 0:05.3 | delicious open-faced sandwich out of the sometimes confusing numbers in the news. |
| 0:10.6 | This week we're going to the Thoring North, to Sweden, a country which was rarely far |
| 0:15.9 | from the spotlight during the coronavirus pandemic because it took a different approach |
| 0:20.3 | with a lighter touch on public health restrictions. |
| 0:24.7 | Stockholm feels like a parallel universe where life as we all once knew it continues as if unchanged. |
| 0:33.1 | I think there have been a huge overreaction in most countries around the globe. |
| 0:37.6 | They're doing their own thing. |
| 0:39.5 | That difference has been hugely polarising. |
| 0:42.4 | Depending on which politician, media commentator or social media expert, armchair expert or |
| 0:47.8 | actual expert you listen to, it's either been a huge success and a beacon of freedom that |
| 0:52.7 | showed lockdowns were a waste of time or a complete disaster that proved lockdowns were |
| 0:58.0 | absolutely essential to save lives. |
| 1:01.2 | So which of those two is it? |
| 1:04.7 | Come on it can only have been a brilliant success or a complete disaster, right Keith? |
| 1:08.8 | This is Keith Moore I'm speaking to who is in Sweden. |
| 1:12.5 | Um, hmm, hi Tim. |
| 1:14.5 | Sorry, I'm going to have to say it's not as black and white as that. |
| 1:17.5 | Well, it's been a few years since we spoke to you on more or less Keith so I'm glad you |
| 1:21.0 | haven't forgotten our strong commitment to nuance. |
| 1:23.4 | I'm going to try to live up to more or less values Tim. |
| 1:25.9 | I like it. |
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