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. 2021 Oct 19;18(20):10990.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182010990.

Social Distancing Policies in the Coronavirus Battle: A Comparison of Denmark and Sweden

Ida Seing  1 , Nina Thórný Stefánsdóttir  2 , Jeanette Wassar Kirk  2   3 , Ove Andersen  2   4 , Tine Tjørnhøj-Thomsen  5 , Thomas Kallemose  2 , Evert Vedung  6   7 , Karsten Vrangbæk  8   9 , Per Nilsen  10
Affiliations

Social Distancing Policies in the Coronavirus Battle: A Comparison of Denmark and Sweden

Ida Seing et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Social distancing measures have been a key component in government strategies to mitigate COVID-19 globally. Based on official documents, this study aimed to identify, compare and analyse public social distancing policy measures adopted in Denmark and Sweden regarding the coronavirus from 1 March 2020 until 1 October 2020. A key difference was the greater emphasis on laws and executive orders (sticks) in Denmark, which allowed the country to adopt many stricter policy measures than Sweden, which relied mostly on general guidelines and recommendations (sermons). The main policy adopters in Denmark were the government and the Danish Parliament, whereas the Public Health Agency issued most policies in Sweden, reflecting a difference in political governance and administrative structure in the two countries. During the study period, Sweden had noticeably higher rates of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations per 100,000 population than Denmark, yet it is difficult to determine the impact or relative effectiveness of sermons and sticks, particularly with regard to broader and longer-term health, economic and societal effects.

Keywords: comparative research; document analysis; executive orders; laws; policy measures; recommendations; social distancing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 population in Denmark and Sweden, March 2020 to 1 October 2020 (Source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 2021).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of COVID-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 population in Denmark and Sweden, February 2020 to 1 October 2020 (Source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 2021). Notes: Data for per-day measures of hospitalization, used in Figure 2, were only available for Denmark from 2 April 2020. Data prior to this were available per-week, showing an increased hospitalization in Denmark similar to that of Sweden, followed by a decline from around April 2020. We therefore expect a similar increase in hospitalizations in Denmark as in Sweden until 2 April 2020, even though we did not have access to the per-day data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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