Sweden Refuses To Mandate Face Masks As Nordic Neighbors Expand Restrictions | Zero Hedge
Scandinavia and northern Europe is developing a reputation as a hotbed of “mandatory mask” denierism. But is it truly a dangerous affront to science and survival, as American social media companies like Facebook – which earlier today purged QAnon-linked accounts from its platform – want us all to believe?
One by one, scientists in Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden have raised doubts about the effectiveness of asking citizens to wear masks in every public venue, with many arguing that asking people to wear masks at all hardly makes sense in places where the rate of spread is low. However, over the past few weeks, many have acknowledged that masks may be beneficial in certain circumstances, and policies that focus specifically on these (such as mandatory use on public transit) might be more beneficial.
As debate is mostly stifled in the US, Sweden’s top epidemiologist and architect of the country’s no-lockdown COVID-19 strategy, Anders Tegnell, is speaking up about Sweden’s decision to stand by its mask policy, which, like most of Sweden’s COVID-19 response, is surprisingly lax.