Passing the wave? Not yet in Sweden... 19 April 2020

The wave has arrived, and we are passing over it in the European Union as you can see on the coloured lines representing some of the EU country trend for COVID-19 cases, over the Hukosai famous representation of the Great Wave of Kawanaga used by Debussy for the original publication of "La mer". 

By From The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai Katsushika - Public Domain

Well, most of us...

Now with the legend, you can see that Sweden, Belgium and the United Kingdom are still over a plateau and have not yet clearly started decreasing. Overall, in the European Union, we experience a clear decrease. The modelling shows that with the measures currently in place in the various countries, we should get back to the baseline pretty much by the end of May. By then, we estimate that 1.2 million cases would have been notified and probably many more mild or asymptomatic in the community.

Source: Epidemiological monitoring of Covid 19

Below is the number of new cases reported everyday by the Swedish State Epidemiologist. The forecast is currently for rough sea, with waves heights of 200 to 400 cases. Yet, the ten day forecast is in favour of a lowering tide with smoother seas!

We experienced in Sweden the same as in the other countries, a shortage of toilet paper rolls in the shops. But this is over now.

Interestingly, 18 months ago, the Swedish Civil Contingency Agency issued a leaflet sent to every household in Sweden. The document states "Everyone who lives in Sweden shares a collective responsibility for our country's security and safety. When we are under threat, our willingness to help each other is one of our most important assets. If you are prepared, you are contributing to improving the ability of the country as a whole to cope with a major strain."

The leaflet of the Swedish Civil Contingency Agency 

The leaflet indicates what to do to get prepared for a crisis. In particular, it gives the list of food, water and other essential products that Swedish residents should make sure they get. There is no mention of toilet paper!

In the mean time, the spring has come even though the temperatures are barely above 0° at night! But this is the definition of spring in Sweden, a week with average temperature above 0°C. And as we are not confined in Sweden, you can see many people in the parks of the city. In fact, according to the Google mobility index published recently, Swedes have increased by 45% their visits to the park of the capital.

Spring flowers, by Kaja

But even though Sweden has not imposed confinement to any one, it is strongly recommended for all and in particular for the elderly. When walking in the streets of Stockholm, you can very clearly perceive that this is not a normal situation. At this time of the year in Sweden, people are flocking in the streets, their faces facing the sun, as to eliminate the months of darkness experienced during the winter.

Stockholm harbour at Oaxen, "The" restaurant of Stockholm.

And below is the view of Belisama in Wasahamnen. We had plans to get our first ride of the year out in the archipelago for Easter, but archipelago authorities indicated that they don't want to see anyone from Stockholm in the archipelago for the weekend as there are many retired people living in the archipelago, qui cut out of the world during the winter. And anyone coming from the capital could bring the corona virus with them and start a devastating epidemic in the islander communities. So we stayed in the harbour!

From Belisama, facing west!

In fact, as we are working all of us from home these days, we appreciate particularly to get out of the working environment at home for weekend, and we therefore spend all our weekends in the harbour on Belisama!