Shutdown deniers have held up Sweden's approach as a model response that will spare economic damage, but signs are emerging that the Swedish model may have been a bad idea. For example:
Sweden Resorts To Storing Bodies At Ice-Rinks As COVID-19 Deaths Soar
When was the last "regular flu season" you recall during which bodies of the deceased were stored at ... ice rinks? The reason for this is that flu deaths occur over a period of 7-8 months, while COVID pandemic deaths are occuring over a matter of weeks in many countries--including the US, of course. I imagine the presence of dead bodies in ice rinks must be rather inconvenient--not to say disconcerting--for non-social distancing Swedish skating enthusiasts! Watch out for Granny when you come out of that spin! And, by the way, that's happening in Stockholm, the capital, not in some country town:
On Thursday, Sweden reported another rise in the daily death rate, with the virus now killing at least 100 people for the second day in a row, raising the total number of dead to 792. Total cases in the country now exceed 9,100, with the hospital system in Stockholm overwhelmed with patients and dead bodies.
Swedish authorities have resorted to storing bodies in "refrigerated shipping containers, ice rinks, and canteen fridges," reported RT News.
The massive influx of virus-related deaths has overflowed morgues with bodies, and crematoriums cannot keep up.
Hospital systems in Gothenburg and Stockholm are renting out ice rinks, refrigerated containers, and cold storage facilities to house bodies in April.
"The big bottleneck is our mortuary that is not designed for such a large city that we are in. It is then important for relatives to arrange the funerals so that the deceased become coffin-bound and thus can come over to the cemetery administration," said Katarina Evenseth, the funeral director in Gothenburg.
Could you please arrange the funeral ASAP so we can get your dearly departed the hell out of the ice rink?
