Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment is over

[CoyoteChris]

Long a Holdout From Covid-19 Restrictions, Sweden Ends Its Pandemic Experiment

After a late autumn surge in infections led to rising hospitalizations and deaths, Sweden has abandoned its attempt to combat the pandemic through voluntary measures.

www.wsj.com

 

[npavel]

There has never been an experiment and our way through the pandemic has not changed very much. A month ago there have been placed racomandations again, as there were in March. The number of persons that can attempt public events went down from 50 to 8, but in March all public events were suspendet. So no, there are not more restrictions than in March in place now. I don't know where people take their information :-(

 

[Edwin]

 

[NanaPat]

Remember that holding events is not totally up to the ISU. The health authorities in the host country have the final say in cancelling events. Though it's also true that the health authorities decisions are usually last-minute, as they react to current conditions.

 

[ice coverage]

" ISU will decide no sooner than January 28 over 2021 World Championships ", according to Philipp Hersh:

You are not quoting what Phil Hersh tweeted on Dec 21 at the link that you provided.

Phil's words verbatim are:

Am told the ISU will likely not make a go / no go decision on 2021 World Figure Skating Championships until at least its next scheduled council meeting Jan. 28.​

A key word from Phil is "likely."

He is a very experienced reporter, and I believe that he intentionally did not make a definitive statement.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Still annoyed about this dragging ooooout of the inevitable, I mean come on ISU, get a clue. If the new British strain escaped to mainland Europe it'll be an utter disaster. For the safety of everyone start preparations for a virtual event.

What's the deal with leaders and politicians being so slow? Would they wait until the whole of their house was on fire before calling the fire department all the while going "Aw no...better wait...it might get better...it's only the backroom..."

I'm gonna say no.

 

[rollerblade]

If the new British strain escaped to mainland Europe it'll be an utter disaster.

What do you mean if? It's already there, dude.

 

[Turbo-Mom]

I think President Joe Biden will have a couple of Hundred Million Does of Vaccine ready to go when he takes office this coming spring

 

[norwegianfairytale]

I´m so sorry i´m bringing this up, I was literally trying to take some deep breaths and just let this go, but are we really going to accept this nonsense from representatives from the host country? I know Aleksandr isn´t competing, but he is defending his brother Nikolaj who is representing Sweden in this event. Nikolaj did break several rules when he meet Yagudin in the so-called bubble at the hotel, standing next to him without mask (nor did Yagudin) and shaking his hands.

I don´t know if what Aleksandr says is even right, but if Aleksandr and Nikolaj thinks this is the right way to behave during an international event during a pandemic, ISU has huge communication problems.

I´m not even going to mention all the others breaking of rules so far, but the presence of any reaction from ISU, is just so sad. Just keep your mask on.

 

[EVAMARIA]

It's not totally nonsense what Alexander is stating. Wearing a mask is recommended in Sweden, it's not a law, so you don't pay any fines if not wearing it. So talking about the country rules ,not competition rules

 

[norwegianfairytale]

What I mean it´s nonsense bringing that argument up. ISU rules should be pretty clear about using face mask in the bubble, if it´s not clear and they can find loopholes like that and get away with it´s a tragedy. Is it really necessary to enforce by law for skaters to follow health protocols? Nikolaj might now have acted against Swedish law, but he for sure did not follow the health protocols for WC and that´s what is this is all about. The bubble is already weak because they don´t have a real quarantine. If they can´t even follow such simple measures the whole bubble is pointless.

Just to be clear, Nikolaj is not the only one. I have seen plenty of examples already and it´s worse then I thought, for instance, it seems it´s not so important for the volunteers to wear mask either. At this rate I wouldn´t be surprised if there will be an outbreak before they even start. No wonder Nathan is using face mask in practice group.

 

[EVAMARIA]

It looks like Yagudin is not in the bubble and they meat before Nikolaj entered the bubble so perhaps that's why Nikolaj did not wear a mask.

I agree with you. I hope ISU has clear rules for the bubble.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

I also read it was outside the bubble.

But I can´t understand how Yagudin don´t have to be in a bubble when he went with a chartered flight with skaters who are in a bubble. It doesn´t make sense at all. The system seems very weak if some of the team members can meet skaters outside the bubble, right before skaters go inside the bubble.