My year 2020, month to month: from choir practices to quarantining, from waiting for action to taking action and moving from Sweden to Finland. Probably too long a thread. đŸ§”

Also: How has your year been? #2020MyStory
January 2020. I lived in Stockholm County and did a lot of things I don't do anymore. Singing in a choir wasn’t an extreme sport and going to a cafĂ© wasn’t risky behaviour. I took my kids to indoor play places and hobbies.
February 2020. A great start. My brother came to visit from Finland. We had an awesome weekend. I showed him the city. We spent a day in the Abba museum, saw 1917 in the movies and did many things I'd soon stop doing. One of the highlights of my 2020. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1224266694413246465
Feb 2020: Plans for the year. I printed a list of all museums in Stockholm area and planned to visit each and everyone of them. That didn't happen. http://www.stockholmmuseums.se/sv/alphabetical 
Finland & Sweden had their 1st cases in Jan, straight from Wuhan. Media reported 1) it’s like the flu & 2) it wouldn't spread outside China. I wasn't worried. In Jan/Feb someone asked about its lethality compared to the flu. I like to help, so I looked up the numbers and counted.
To my surprise, contrary to what I'd read, the new disease seemed to be much more lethal than the flu. I started to keep an eye and follow the news and social media more carefully.
Stockholm schools had a winter holiday at the end of Feb. Many travelled abroad. People in south of Sweden had already had theirs. News started coming from Italy. Also many Swedish holiday-makers tested positive. Why not quarantine the returning travellers, I wondered.
If Gothenburgers returned sick, so would Stockholmers. We stopped going to our hobbies. My last choir practice was at the end of Feb. I travelled there in a metro car that was the namesake of the king who later in December would say Sweden had failed. Thank you, Carl Gustav.
March 2020. COVID-19 had come to Sweden. At least Stockholm has great hospitals, I thought. Then I found out they lack resources as it is even without new epidemics and that Sweden has almost the fewest ICU beds in the EU. Oh. More reasons for Sweden to be vigilant, I thought.
Of course Sweden would be cautious, I thought. It's a country where kids have to wear helmets when sledding & there are signs everywhere guiding the citizens along as if they were little children. Which I like. Sweden just seemed to be surprisingly careless. But they'd catch up.
Those that had been to China/Iran/Italy could get tested if they had cough/fever, but it wasn't easy. If you hadn’t been to specific areas / didn’t have symptoms, you'd continue living normally. As would your contacts.
There had already been news of asymptomatic / presymptomatic spreaders. I thought about the families, friends, colleagues, classmates, teachers, taxi drivers, people on the same planes, trains, buses... The Public Health Agency of Sweden assured things were under control.
Stockholm is a popular destination for Finns who take the ferry from Turku / Helsinki. Before their trip, some ask for tips in FB: Attractions? Parks? Fleamarkets? Child-friendly restaurants? I had started to advise people not to come. Some even followed my advice and cancelled.
March 5 & 6. Several private schools in Stockholm County, also near us, closed for a short while because of positive cases and several students waiting to get tested. The state epidemiologist condemned the school closures.

Link: https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7423237 
It didn't sound believable to me. I was worried the coming Melodifestivalen finals would become a superspreader event. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1236274610460594176
The Melodifestivalen finals were held with live audience although other countries were banning much smaller gatherings. They did have hand sanitiser for the performers and asked the audience to come only if they're healthy. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1236397444168065032
So the Melodifestivalen finals, organised by SVT (Swedish public service television company), had tens of thousands of people attending on Saturday. From Monday onwards, all their other TV shows were recorded without live audience. đŸ€”
After the event, I didn't feel safe at all in Stockholm. I had prepared for both sickness and quarantine. We had food and medicine. I wanted to stay at home with my family living on our provisions like the Ingalls' family in By the Shores of Silver Lake. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1237113232193658880
I was told that 0 deaths in Sweden proved it was under control. I said it's just a matter of time now that the virus was likely spreading from the young travellers to the elderly. The first death was soon reported. How they had caught it remained unknown.

https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1237700786802606081
I always work from home. My husband's workplace moved to distance work although there was no official recommendation, saying the employees' health is what matters most. He's been working from home ever since without even visiting the workplace. We also took the kids from school.
I thought Sweden has just been too optimistic and slow to act, but they would take drastic measures now that community transmission was obvious and people were dying. How they reacted was a shock. They stated Sweden had entered "the next phase" - no more testing or tracing.
We stayed at home, didn't meet anyone. We ordered groceries. We lived next to a forest where we went out. We met an acquaintance there. He told us everyone should get the virus asap so that Sweden could soon return to normal.

- Covid is very mild. You would hardly notice it.
Besides Tegnell's herd immunity fantasies, he was channelling Johan Giesecke, who failed to mention in his many interviews he's working for the Health Agency that he kept praising. Both believed the spread in Wuhan had stopped because of herd immunity.

https://www.vk.se/2020-03-22/giesecke-vi-kommer-att-klara-det-har
I have to interrupt because of technical issues. I will try to continue.
I didn't want to take part in their experiment. I couldn't think of any sickness where herd immunity had been the solution. We didn't know enough about the virus. It was known that besides death, it caused damage in lungs and other organs. I didn't want to get it nor spread it.
I had told the school we were sick. I taught the kids at home. I was following the news intently, expecting the schools to close any moment like they had in other countries.

Instead, the school informed that they might combine different groups even between schools in the area.
Our youngest was in a private daycare that had a very different style. They asked all families to keep their children at home if only possible. It made sense. Our kid was already staying at home.
Parents with fever, headache and cough asked if they could send their kids to playdates to our place. To us, it sounded unthinkable, but they were just following the Public Health Agency's instructions: continue living as normal even if your family member has COVID-19.
Finland moved the schools to distance learning on Wed, 18 March. Two days later, the wording was changed so that kids on grades 1-3 could go to school if they needed it (eg. parent's job). Very few did. Tegnell claimed Finland had re-opened the grades. He never corrected it.
Remember my list of all Stockholm museums that I planned to visit? Instead, we decided to play all our boardgames and build all our puzzles at least once. So there's been a lot of that this year.
It was important to live normally (or even extra actively "to support local businesses") & not to show worry. Even talking about it / suggesting useful safety measures were banned. Mentions to covid were deleted from local FB groups while restaurant recommendations were welcomed.
April 2020. Usually we have a big get-together in Easter. This time it was just us. I hid the easter eggs in the woods. I took some hasty shots to remember where I hid them. I can tell you now that a photo like *this* doesn't help much in a FOREST. đŸ€Šâ€â™€ïž
Many had got sick in Sweden. Many had died. Many more would soon die. The explaining began:
- Sweden is the best at counting.
- Many immigrants died, not because of social economical reasons, community transmission, no TTI, no PPE, but because they can't read or don't understand.
After Easter, I applied for a leave from school for my kids. I had heard it's possible. I wrote "coronaoro"* ("corona worry") as a reason. The leave was granted for two weeks. Such a relief.

*My husband, a Swede: - What does it say? Capoeira? Coronaoro is not a word in Swedish.
The principal had said the kids were allowed to study from home because they were good at school. So I made sure they learnt everything that was expected. I had cut down my work hours and worked when they slept. I was grateful we could be at home with permission.
Not everyone was as lucky. Teachers, for example. After a teacher died in KĂ„ge where 25% tested positive, I started looking for more news of school cases in Sweden. What made it challenging:
- only those admitted to hospital were tested
- cases in schools were kept secret
KĂ„ge was "a unique event". It's the only school that was tested. They didn't test any children but still knew they were not spreaders. They knew it from China - where kids weren't at school during the pandemic. Interview with the infection control doctor: https://www.lararen.se/nyheter/coronaviruset/flera-faktorer-bakom-coronasmitta-pa-skellefteaskola
I ran into more school staff deaths and started tweeting about them in April to find out more.
Of course, there were other people at risk, too. My husband's family friend, a nurse, died of covid. My friend lost two workmates, bus drivers. I had never seen or heard so many ambulances in our area.

FHM had daily press conferences where they said how well Sweden was doing.
Sweden was now, in April, already close to herd immunity. Eg. at the end of this interview (1:03:48) with GMF from April 15, Anders Tegnell says: 'It looks like we are reasonably close to herd immunity.' https://www.gmfus.org/events/europes-response-coronavirus-virtual-update-swedens-chief-epidemiologist
The only problem was the death toll, but: 'It's not a failure of our policy. It's really a failure of our elderly homes [...] There have been problems ... with hygiene, with people working there not been trained, not having the language skills...' (20:12) https://www.gmfus.org/events/europes-response-coronavirus-virtual-update-swedens-chief-epidemiologist
I could only apply leave from school for two weeks before making a new application. But this time it wasn't approved! The school said the municipality wants everyone back to school now I checked from a teacher friend that their municipality had told them the same. Not good.
- Unless an adult in the family belongs to a risk group, said the school. - We need a doctor's certificate.
- I don't have one ready. I need some time.

I got time to fix it. They were also between the rock and the hard place as they needed to get everyone back to school.
After these news I slept like a baby. I mean, I had difficulties to fall asleep and I woke up to cry every hour. And when I say cry, I mean plan. Proper brainstorming. What to do? Get a doctor's certificate for myself - I don't know if I should elaborate but it could fail.
Move in a risk-group relative (on paper)? Was there any school that allowed distance learning - maybe we could move elsewhere in Sweden? (Didn't find any.) Move abroad? Eg. Finland, my country of origin, was doing great.
At the same time, Giesecke stated Sweden was doing best in the world and Finland would catch up in autumn. New Zealanders would have to quarantine travellers for decades. He estimated 5000 deaths before herd immunity. Now it's nearly 9000. No immunity.
https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/giesecke-om-ett-ar-ar-ovriga-norden-i-kapp-sveriges-dodstal/
May 2020. Had to visit the health centre to meet a doctor for the certificate. Considering the incidence in Stockholm, the posters on the door asking about travels felt dated. The list of symptoms was also shorter than that of my currently nearest hamburger restaurant.
Nurse at the door asked if I was healthy. I told her I was and got in.

The place was packed. No windows. No masks on patients nor the staff. Some were coughing in their hands. 'Oh good that they checked at the door that everyone is healthy', I thought.
I spent quite a while in a closet-like room in close contact with a doctor. I had spent two months without meeting anyone, without even shopping for groceries. Now this. The situation felt risky.

But I got what I needed.
The school accepted the certificate, but how long would it last? When would the kids get called back to school again? To prevent it, the kids worked hard to finish all their school books and projects in good time before summer holiday so that they'd have nothing to do at school.
European countries had ended their lockdowns. Talks of how 'all countries are now following Sweden's example' started, though Sweden was still having lots of cases and deaths and the neighbouring countries had often 0 cases per day.
Ministers starting making appearances one after another blaming other countries for discrimination if they didn't open their boarders for Sweden. 'Come on, it's just the elderly who died. Community transmission has nothing to do with it.'

https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7482935 
Tegnell agreed with the government. Swedes would be the safest tourists because Swedes were immune - despite low antibody levels. The Health Agency kept measuring the immunity but never got the result they wanted. In June they said you can't measure it but it's there.
June 2020. Swedish minister for education stated you have to compare risks and having schools open weighs more heavily than people's health. It was the first time they admitted - although in passing - there has been school outbreaks & teachers have died.

https://www.dn.se/nyheter/utbildningsminister-anna-ekstrom-skolplikten-ror-vi-inte/
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1268905588878172160
Summer was beginning. I was planning for autumn. A lot had to change. It didn't look promising. No one had regrets. Any measures other countries used were wrong. Reducing spread won't protect the vulnerable, claimed Director General of the Health Agency. https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/johan-carlsson-smittan-kom-in-fran-lander-som-gick-under-var-radar/
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1271834855211499520
In June the schools closed for 2 months of summer holiday. Soon after, the number of cases started going down. The long summer holiday was never speculated to have played even a minor part in the decrease. Sweden believed they had reached immunity and advertised it to the world.
The term "herd immunity" wasn't used anymore. It was bad PR abroad. Instead, the Public Health Agency started using "high immunity" or just "immunity". They couldn't measure it but they saw the effect of it. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1272937753202896898
Our hobby in June: Orienteering, with fixed controls. At own pace, no need to meet anyone.
The masks I ordered arrived. I bought some fun ones from Etsy because 1) I like fun 2) I thought more accessory-like masks might be less likely to upset Swedes compared to medical masks. They'd been warned against masks all spring. I went to grocery shop 1st time since Feb/March.
We had to take our kid to ER. (It turned out to be something quite harmless & easily treated.) We were nervous to go to a hospital where the staff worked also after testing positive if they didn't have symptoms. No one had masks besides my husband and kid. https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/uppmaningen-jobba-aven-om-du-har-corona/
They were very friendly and the diagnosis was correct but wish they could have worn masks. The hospital infections Sweden has suffered from have been sad, unnecessary and lethal. During Christmas, the Public Health Agency finally recommended them in all healthcare.
Every interview in the summer with the Public Health Agency made it clear nothing would be done to prevent another catastrophe in autumn-winter. The immunity would fix it. Obviously.

https://www.di.se/nyheter/tegnell-sverige-har-peakat-och-ar-pa-vag-nedat/
There were 3 future scenarios: 0) covid would disappear (!) 1) small outbreak 2) a wave like in spring. They said 2 was unlikely if social contacts and travelling didn't increase. But of course they would! Eg. unlike in spring, all schools would be open.
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1276142335265562625
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1276142337513709568
'If you think "it'll be okay", it'll be too late.' - Le Bureau

I started watching Le Bureau in June. The situation in Sweden was messing with me & I kept getting the Swedish title ("False Identity") wrong:

- Can we watch False Immunity / False Security? https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1274345975260340224
July 2020: So long and thanks for all the surströmming!

A hectic month for us. We had a holiday trip, decided to move from Sweden, organised everything and left.
The first week wasn't that hectic. We went on a nice holiday trip. We left our small apartment and walked to a grand house nearby that we had rented via Airbnb. The place had a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, game consoles and a cat! Purrfect!
My husband had worked hard till then & hadn't thought of winter. I presented our options, based on situation worsening:
- Back to school
- We manage (applications, uncertainty, stress) to keep them home, tough long-term without distance school & they'd be considered weird ->
- Try to keep them home but face consequences (social services) and fail
- Move from Sweden

Without the stress from work, he concluded right away that we can't go on living in Sweden. He's Swedish and has lived in the same city all his life, but what else could we do?
We planned to move temporarily for a year. We told the kids about the plan. Surprisingly, they were excited. One of them, an avid reader of novels, cheered: 'I'll be _the new kid in the class_! I have never been the new kid!'
Other people didn't cheer. They'd been following only the Swedish media and thought Sweden was doing the best in the world. All countries had the same number of cases & deaths but Sweden counted the best + Sweden had the highest level of immunity. Doesn't add up if you ask me.
We had decided to move to Finland where I moved from a decade ago. We ruled out Helsinki area to diminish our risk. Turku was a logistically easy choice & works well for Swedish speakers. I also have relatives here. There's a downside to that, too, if they demand indoor visits...
While we were vacationing in the rented house, I got a message from our neighbour saying I had received a package that had been waiting by our door for two days. She had taken it and I could get it from her when we returned home. This turned out to be a lucky incident!
When we got back, I sent her a message asking if she could leave the package to my door and pick up some chocolate that I had left for her hanging from the handle. I explained we had been avoiding people since March. Turns out that so had they! We started chatting online.
She and her kids lived with her riskgroup parents. She had also managed to keep her kids at home and had also stayed home herself from work, but they would soon have to return to work and school. She was sick of worry every day thinking they might infect her parents.
I said we'd be moving & they could live at our place for a year - an ideal solution to all of us. Especially if you know about renting in Stockholm, you'd understand. Let's not go to details. For those who know about it, our housing association rarely allows renting.
They couldn't say no to someone who had already lived there for years. Our kids were the same age and had same interests, so we left them our books, toys and games. Also furniture, kitchenware etc. All we took were clothes and computers.
Then we decided on the school and looked for an apartment close by. My Finnish relatives had been so sheltered they thought I was silly when I said we wouldn't be travelling by bus twice a day during a pandemic.

- Do you think there's a chance covid will return?
While we looking for an apartment and a moving company, packing, trying to get everything ready in a couple of short weeks in July when everyone in Sweden and Finland are away on holiday, Sweden was triumphant: We were right about immunity! We were right to not to close schools!
Johan Carlson considered "fairly high immunity" "of course very positive" - note that he is General Director of The Public Health Agency and he considers it very positive that a lot of people have been sick under their watch.

#herdimmunity
https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/fhm-stockholm-kan-ha-40-procents-immunitet/
Tegnell: 'In Sweden, there are many more people who are immune compared to Norway. Our immunity levels are significant. I wouldn't say we are better equipped* but we will get away easier.**'

* True.
** Nope.
Here are Sweden, Norway and Finland if you would like to check how much easier it has been for Sweden.
It's upsetting how Sweden & Public Health Agency have marketed the strategy as a success. There are many examples. I don't appreciate them influencing Finnish school policies with their fake numbers based on lack of testing. 'School closures are useless.' https://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2020/07/13/thls-salminen-om-en-eventuell-andra-coronavag-skolstangning-skulle-overvagas
Back to our moving arrangements. We couldn't go to see aparments but took our chances. Everything went smoothly online. As to work, we'd continue in our current jobs, working from home. We didn't have many boxes but still needed a moving company. We were very happy with @KMuutto.
Viking Line had stopped cruises from Sweden, so the ferry from Stockholm to Turku was quite empty.

My mom: - You probably didn't need to queue for long in the buffet.

Er, no. We had lunchboxes. We went straight to our cabin to sleep and didn't leave before the boat arrived.
The first thing out of the ferry I got in a quarrel. Some Finns wanted to share our lift and were upset when I said no. They argued back even though joining us would've exceeded the capacity. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1288862472594546689
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1288865858589282307
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1288867903333376002
So we had this completely empty apartment. The door buzzer was ringing and my messages beeping when people brought things behind our door! đŸ„Č I told them to charge for the things and time and effort but most people didn't want anything. Or too little.
Some of us would arrive a few days later. When the first night came in the new apartment, we had received a bed and a mattress that we shared, some kitchenware, sheets, towels, pillows, blankets.... My sister had shopped groceries for us and I had ordered pizza. 👍
So the challenge was that we didn't have much at the beginning (photo: me having breakfast in the kitchen) and we were in quarantine for two weeks after arriving from a riskier country. But it went great, thanks to local people.
Some messages from those who gave us nice things without ever meeting us: 'Good luck in quarantine!' 'Thanks for following the quarantine guidelines! Welcome to Turku!' 'Oh and welcome to Finland!' 'And welcome to Turku!'
There's more to come: August, September, October, November and December in Finland.
They were thanking me for staying in quarantine for two weeks after arriving to the country because it is actually a recommended unmonitored self-quarantine. Some reminded me there's no reason to follow it as it's only voluntary. Currently it's 10 days.
Finns had enjoyed a normal summer, also risk groups that in Sweden have had to stay in isolation for the whole pandemic (by recommendation till autumn, by common sense after). Finns worried travellers would import C19 by not quarantining. Which they did, according to sequencing.
As a Finnish citizen I'm always allowed to return to Finland. All I needed to do was to flash my passport. My husband is Swedish and arrived a few days after. He proved he had moved to Finland and got in.

Here are the current entry restrictions. https://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/entry-restrictions
Later: August 2020. End of quarantine. Mask recommendation. School start. Quarantine number 2. Our first coronavirus test.
During our quarantine, I had started to practice a new skill: using a washer-dryer in French. I have now learnt what 59' tout en 1 means. I use it whenever I want to get wet clothes that still have stains. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1291727191642955776
One day I was dining on the kitchen floor when I heard noise. I saw a man on a balcony near our window. I opened the window & asked if he was locked out. He was.
- How can I help?
- Could you call the ambulance if I fall when I climb down the fire escape?
- Oh, ok...

He made it.
My new home city Turku was the first in Finland to recommend masks in public transportation in early August. Soon the same applied everywhere in Finland.

Sweden is following shortly after - they recommend masks starting from Jan 7, 2021, on weekdays 7-9 am & 4-6 pm.
In Finland, free cloth masks are distributed to those who can't afford masks.

In Sweden, COVID-19 has hit the poorest ones hardest. They use public transportation. Sweden recommends disposable masks only which cost more than cloth masks (if not re-used, against instructions).
The Finnish mask recommendation says cloth masks are not as effective in protecting the bearer, but it doesn't leave cloth masks outside the recommendation. They are also included in the instructions.

https://thl.fi/en/web/infectious-diseases-and-vaccinations/what-s-new/coronavirus-covid-19-latest-updates/transmission-and-protection-coronavirus/recommendation-on-the-use-of-face-masks-for-citizens
The self-quarantine ended. Everytime I went out, I checked carefully I had my keys - something I didn't ever have to worry about in Sweden. In Sweden, if I left keys at home, I wouldn't be able to lock the door, either. That's what I love about Sweden, as do other Sweden-Finns.
No wonder Swedes are so convinced they are always right. They don't experience the all-too-familiar feeling of stupidity & self-blame when the door bangs shut behind you as you realise you don't have your keys and you are locked out of your own home, helpless and humbled. Again.
It could be worse - once in Croatia I was locked inside an apartment because I didn't have a key that was needed to get out. Now that's just crazy and unsafe.
Another difference my Swedish husband has noticed (and considers weird):

If you want to pass someone in Sweden, you say "ursÀkta". (Or just push through, at least in the metro in Stockholm.) If you want to pass someone in Finland, you wait silently they see you and move. ->
-> If they don't, you get more annoyed (or not if you are patient) and wait some more. -> Earlier, when visiting Finland, my husband would to his surprise notice silently fuming Finns just waiting behind him to pass. Now he knows to check if there is someone behind his back.
There's a new variation to this in covid times: In a grocery store, you need to check if there's someone at the end of the aisle waiting for you to leave. You might be comparing products in an empty aisle without realising there is someone watching and waiting, barely visible.
Not everyone does it. Some just march to the aisle and take what they need.

I feel I also have to be careful where to wait the kids from school although we're outside. If someone is under the roof, I can wait eg. by the stairs, parking lot or gate if the spots are not taken. 😄
The middle one is a kid who's used to crowds at school so he doesn't keep his distance in the yard like the parents. 😜
When I arrived in Finland, things were very normal. There were few cases and they were all traced abroad. In Turku, especially flights from North Macedonia have been challenging. The passangers have been tested and quarantined since August. https://www.hameensanomat.fi/uutiset/skopjesta-yha-valtava-maara-tartuntoja-tiistain-lennolla-17-uutta-koronavirustartuntaa-suomeen-1464948/
There were even many big events & festivals arranged in Turku area in August, something I wasn't exactly thrilled about. 'Don't ruin what you have', I thought. I was especially bitter when an event had made such a huge order in my nearest pizza place that they couldn't take mine.
Haha! Machine translation went a bit far there. It's Paavo Nurmi, not SpongeBob Nurmi. What a sacrilege.
We passed his statue in August.

Me: - Paavo Nurmi is said to have "run Finland onto the map of the world".
Husband: - Because he ran naked?
Me: - He did not run naked!

If a statue was ever made for my honor, don't make it a nude statue (unless it's somehow very relevant).
Our kids' school started in August. In Sweden, they had been at home since early March, but in Finland the situation was safer and there was will and measures to stop school outbreaks, unlike in Sweden.
My family doesn't speak much Finnish. No problem. The school is Swedish-speaking. Turku (Åbo in Swedish) is bilingual. You see Swedish everywhere. The official information is also in Swedish.

First pic: - "Directly to the police database"? Why, mom? He's only a baby!
I'll try to compare the measures in Sweden and Finland at that point - why we dared to send the kids to school in Finland though not in Sweden.
- Quarantine.
a) self-quarantine: Before the school started, the school reminded all families to stay at home if they had been abroad. They'd need to quarantine for 14 days. No such thing in Sweden. Everyone welcome, no tests, no quarantines, just march in.
b) Quarantine when you're exposed. There was no such thing in Sweden!

Finland: If someone is diagnosed with COVID-19, exposed must be tracked down and quarantined for 14 days.

Sweden: No symptoms - go to school/work. Not just a suggestion - school is compulsory.
An example: Reactions to a school outbreak in Finland and in Sweden in August.

- Finland: Quarantine and move the exposed adults and children to distance learning.
- Sweden: 'We take it very seriously but continue as usual.'
It's unusual in Sweden to inform about school cases. In Finland parents are informed & you can read about it from the city's website & media. Eg. infections at schools, daycares & elderly homes in Turku are listed here: https://www.turku.fi/korona/tartunnat-ja-altistukset No info on my city's site in Sweden.
Why does Sweden not inform parents? Gothenburg city had this in their website in the spring but not anymore. It says there is no reason to inform because
- it's private
- there's no tracing
- informing doesn't reduce transmission
- healthy kids need to be at school
Swedish pediatrician & epidemiologist Ludvigsson, connected to the Public Health Agency and the minister for education, says parents are not notified because covid is not dangerous to children & classmates might not want to play with someone who's ill. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/how-sweden-wasted-rare-opportunity-study-coronavirus-schools
Testing.
Finland: If someone at school - child, teacher, family member - has symtoms, they have to get tested.
Sweden: Spring - limited to those admitted for suspected covid. Summer - almost everyone but there were age limits. Now - also schoolkids but testing lacks resources.
Testing in Finland: Done by a nurse.
Testing in Sweden: Do it yourself. I don't know how common this is. It can be handy so sick people don't leave their homes but is the result as accurate? I don't know if I could do it.
Tracing.

Finland: Contact tracers call people at schools, daycares, hobbies, work, public places etc. Found many superspreader events. An app from September.

Sweden: The patient informs their own contacts. Tegnell considers it a better system. Exposures never in news. No app.
This is why there are no superspreader events in Sweden, according to Anders Tegnell and Johan Carlson from the Public Health Agency. Tegnell: "Sweden has been spared". Not even Melodifestivalen with audience of about 30 000 people.
It's also why Sweden doesn't have transmission in schools or daycares. Tegnell: 'We have not seen much of it in Sweden.' You don't see if you don't look. How would a private person informing their own nearest contacts find a superspreader event?
Immunity.

Sweden: Didn't prepare for winter because trusted in immunity. Very focused on antibody tests. People testing for antibodies. Their friends: - Hope you have them!

Finland: No antibody tests. A study in spring in the epicentre found one with neutralising antibodies.
Masks.

Finland: From August, masks recommended in public transport. Soon in all public indoors.

Sweden: Masks are harmful. (Mask recommendation for some public transport, specific times and dates coming in January.)
Asymptomatic / presymptomatic spread.

Finland: Important. Infectious 1-2 days before symptoms. Also without symptoms.

Sweden: Insignificant. This leads to no quarantining exposed, no masks, not even in healthcare (recommendation for masks in healthcare came during Christmas).
Attitude

Sweden: Important to diminish worry. It's in the strategy. Because of it, school cases aren't reported, reducing transmission can't be discussed & there's no tracing app.

Finland: Important to be prepared. Normal Finnish communication would be "alarmist" in Sweden.
I've heard parents expressing their concerns and suggest how to dimish risks to schools both in Finland and in Sweden.

Reaction in Finland (I admit I know only of our school): Thanks for the idea. Fixes the problem.

Sweden: Implies the parent is overworrying and refers to FHM.
How it's transmitted. I thought this was a similarity rather than a difference. They were more similar in August. Both are still very focused on handwashing.

Is it airborne?

Finland, August: Maybe? Mostly not.
Finland, Jan 2021: Yes but mostly droplets.

Sweden, Aug & Jan: No.
Soon after school start, I got to test the system in Turku when we developed symptoms. We were not very ill, no fever, loss of taste etc. but one had respiratory symptoms, I had shortness of breath, one kid was throwing up, two had nothing. Weird combo + especially my thing.
I called for days, didn't get through. I noticed I could book a test online, fast & easy. I visited ER for my breathing. They didn't test since I already had a booked time & they had few test kits. Later I've heard them calling it "the chaos week". They have improved a lot since.
The test was outside. The nurse was in full gear. I don't know what she eg. looked like but I found out that she, like me, is afraid of wasps. There was a wasp. We managed, eventually.
It took a week to get tested. The result came after 4 days: negative. It's what they predicted at ER & testing since there were so few cases at that point, all from abroad. We've been tested multiple times afterwards, always got a time for the next day and result the day after.
This meant we started our August in quarantine and ended it in another quarantine. We ordered food online and watched 80s films: Georgian food & Back to the Future, pizza & Honey I Shrunk the Kids, hamburgers & Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Indian food & Back to the Future 2...
Contact tracing app Koronavilkku was launched September 1st. The goal was to reach one million downloads before the end of September. It was reached the same day; 2 million within 2 weeks (population size 5.5 million). This article is from November.
Less than a week from the end of our quarantine some of us got mild symptoms. We quarantined again. Testing process went quickly. As it was our 3rd quarantine in 1.5 months, I turned to FB groups again to buy toys, games & books. Got lots behind our door for free in no time. 💕
One of them was Mouse Trap that was for a couple of years my only wish for Christmas when I was a child but I never got it. It felt like Christmas to me when I found it in a bag by my door. 😄
Sep 20. Turku Day. An outdoor bath duck race we might have gone to see was cancelled to avoid crowds. I get it. But indoor choir performances weren't cancelled. 😬 We watched the fireworks. I was happy with this pic until I noticed there are tiny people standing on my kid's head.
Watching busy city birds. This hooded crow dived in the trash can and pulled the pizza box out. It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it.
My kid's class was going to take the bus.
School: - The class will get masks from us.
Me: Wow, no mask recommendation for kids, still the school gives them masks.
Other parents: - They shouldn't share a bus with other people.
School: - Good point! They'll have their own bus.
After the spring and summer in Sweden, it felt very relieving to be allowed to be worried and express it knowing it might even lead to action.
The parent-teacher meetings were online. I didn't need to be active. Teacher & other parents got it covered: let's change this routine, cancel that event, postpone that trip... I suggested ventilating the class. The teacher was already doing it. (Don't know about other schools.)
My Finnish followers might like to see me point out weaknesses in the Finnish approach more actively. The thing is, after my experiences in Sweden I feel such gratitude and relief when someone makes an effort. Compared to Sweden, a lot is being done.
But I hear also when someone in Finland sounds like they have a special connection to Sweden: Nothing can or should be done, it's best to learn to live with the virus, against the power of Mordor there can be no victory, we must join with Sauron, it would be wise, my friend...
Finland is not such a one man (or one agency) show than Sweden. There are some common restrictions, but regions and municipalities make also independent decisions. They can't close private businesses, however. More about it later.
Finland doesn't want to close schools although it went well in spring. It's based on the Swedish Public Health Agency's flawed paper claiming Finland had bigger incidence despite closed schools. Sweden didn't test and had kids in ICU. One died (excluded). https://thl.fi/sv/web/thlfi-sv/-/stangning-av-skolor-och-daghem-paverkade-inte-markbart-antalet-konstaterade-fall-av-coronavirus-hos-barn-och-unga-
September was also when Anders Tegnell & Johan Giesecke tried to convince UK & Ireland to copy the Swedish strategy. Giesecke failed with Ireland, Tegnell unfortunately succeeded.

A priceless interview where Giesecke gets owned by @boucherhayes (23 Sept): https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21839423
We start & end our months in quarantine. In September, too. We have a bit of a tradition already with this nightly walk to the test & back chatting & having chocolate milkshakes home-delivered after. We'd still rather just have the walk, so we wish to get rid of the disease.
October. We found an awesome daycare for our youngest. 3 hours / day, completely outside (+ outhouse). The teacher told me that during her years working there she has never been sick, unlike at her previous kindergarten job.

Activity in the pic: pasta spoon & smoothie bag caps.
I forgot this from the end of September: A new recommendation to wear masks in all public indoors (except schools). @turkuartmuseum was especially successful. They handed masks by the door, I noticed when I sometimes popped in (masked) to buy cinnamon buns (to eat outside).
We already used masks in public indoors, so no need to change anything. Most of the recommendations have been like that. Ok, all. Oh, I can't go to an indoor play place now? I wouldn't dream of it!

Who has no problem with these recommendations? This gal! 😄
By the way, I have all these cool cloth masks, but I use mostly respirator masks. I also double-mask with a cloth mask and a surgical mask, often an invisible choice.
Yes, I will probably always have this same facial expression in my mask selfies. I don't have great many options to choose from. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1337543691746086913
October was calm for us. School, daycare, work, home, park etc. No symptoms, tests or quarantines. So here's just a photo of my kids playing. The youngest, in a competitive age, is wearing mittens and saying if it's a rock, paper or scissors. A winning technique.
They speak Swedish with each other, so to be precise, they play "sten-sax-pÄse" which means rock-scissors-bag.
November. First cases at my kids' school. At the start of the month, a pupil tested positive and over 20 pupils & some teachers were quarantined with distance learning. At the end of the month, it was 15 pupils when their teacher fell ill.
During November, teachers were told to wear masks OR visors. As far as I know, wearing them prevents counting them as exposed. It's great they wear masks, but they might still be exposed. A visor definetely doesn't protect from exposure.
My kids weren't exposed, but moving to distance learning went probably smoothly for those who were. The school has instructed pupils to take home all their things every day just in case. The school has taught them to use Teams. Everyone from 4th grade up has received an iPad.
The school sent a message instructing how to book 1) lunch boxes and 2) a time to pick them up from outside the cafeteria door.
During autumn, I've been impressed by the mayor of Turku, @minnaarve, and the corona coordination group in Southwest Finland. She appears to be honestly concerned about the situation and doing her utmost to find solutions. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1333038963544698885
Before the Mayor of Turku tweeting about finding many asymptomatic positive cases at schools, Helsinki had decided to reduce quarantines & tracing at schools. If there's only one case in a class, no quarantine! Good to hear Turku is doing the opposite. https://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2000007646763.html
Here's how the situation in Finland and elsewhere in Europe looked like in November.
Early December. Some mild cold symptoms again. Bribed my kid to the test with a gaming headset. The kid had already accepted it from public health perspective but wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it before bribing. Test result was negative.
We walked there & back as usual. In our 1st test, we took a cab back after explaining the situation & driver promising she'd also wear a mask + open windows. She didn't.

- I trust you're not sick.
- I don't! That's why we were tested!
-> lecture about exposed drivers in Sweden
Our kids' school had two more exposures and quarantines. Not our kids, but the situation started to feel uncomfortable.
One detail I forgot to list earlier when comparing Finland & Sweden:

Swedish schools: Attendance is compulsory. If a child misses school, they can contact social services.

Finland: Education is compulsory. Attendance isn't.

Significant difference during a pandemic.
There were some mass tests in Finnish schools and they always found asymptomatic / presymptomatic cases, especially in this one that had a known problem with many positives and was already in distance learning because of it. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1338609530700242944
The situation is Turku suddenly worsened. Soon Turku had the highest incidence in Finland. The Chief Physician for Infectious Diseases in Turku says here that it might be because Turku is especially active in testing exposed asymptomatic people. https://www.is.fi/turun-seutu/art-2000007689966.html
The chief physician says here (sorry, Finnish doesn't work well with machine translations) that in Turku there are cases where it's been certain the source of the infection has been an asymptomatic child. They're considering masks for pupils in Turku.

https://www.ts.fi/uutiset/paikalliset/5171048/Koronaa+sairastava+turkulaisopettaja+uskoo+saaneensa+tartunnan+koulusta++toivoo+nyt+etta+lapsetkin+kayttaisivat+maskeja
The Mayor of Turku in December:
Turku moved schools to distance learning in mid-Dec from grades 4 (10-year-olds) up. My kid's class followed their normal schedule but online. When it was PE, they sent the kids for a jog outside. One task was to make a Christmas decoration out of twigs. It worked great for us.
Here's us looking for the said twigs, hehe. The kids got a bit distracted. It's not night, by the way, it was afternoon.
I'd prefer their school to continue like this to stop the spread. Even if it meant I would have to go gathering sticks in the darkness* sometimes.

*Not a metaphor. Well, maybe for helping out with schoolwork in general.
Christmas has been wonderful and relaxing. Just us five doing Christmassy things.
The gingerbread cookies ended up looking like this, our tree has spiderwebs and there wasn't much snow. But we did dance around the tree, as our oldest has been requesting for years (but we haven't had enough room for it before).
The vaccinations started after Christmas. In Finland, they started from healthcare staff who work with covid patients. It's been a pleasure reading their joyful tweets. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1343188717016592386
Sweden started with elderly. Let's hope the maskless nurses didn't infect the 91-year-old during vaccination. (They have worn masks, at least in photos, but in this case they removed them right after.) (Via @KellyBjorklund_)
The bad news has been the new virus variant. Finland stopped the flights from the UK and found at least 3 cases of B117 and recently some more. I'll write more about it soon in this thread.
I heard from both Finland and Sweden that many people were celebrating Christmas in big groups from different households, so the long holiday might not have stopped the spreading. Also skiing holidays with afterparties have been popular in both countries.
Here's how it has looked like bars in Levi ski resort in KittilÀ, Finland in recent days: https://twitter.com/LindenJakke/status/1344003800353411072
Eg. here in Turku about all public places governed by the municipality have been closed, but restaurants, bars and nightclubs have been open as in everywhere in the country. The city can't close them, it's up to the government.
I live in the city centre, so in New Year's Eve I saw full pubs and bars and groups of party people on their way to somewhere.

I made a mistake of going to a grocery shop too early. It's open 24/7 and I shop during nighttime. I usually order, so I don't do it every week.
Usually almost everyone is masked. Now I realised it's maybe just during my hours. No masks. When I was at the check-out, a big man came oddly close at me (considering it's Finland). I asked him to keep distance. He refused. I pointed a sticker on the floor showing his spot.
I went to pay, and the man started yelling at me, eg: 'You're one of them!' 'Corona doesn't exist!' and 'If you're so scared, why don't you get the vaccine?'

Quickly and silently I packed my things and hurried away* deciding never to come back that early.

* Or did I? ->
Epilogue. A bit strange but so is life.

He shouted after me: - HEY, YOU! ... You forgot your batteries!

I turned back. He gave me the pack of batteries I had forgot (for our smoke detector that was running out of battery and beeping constantly).
- Thanks.
- You're welcome.
2020 ended. I'm glad we made the choice to emigrate. The spring was exhausting, not because of our self-quarantining but because the constant stress to not to do so and the never-ending lies of how well Sweden is doing and how badly the others - I haven't covered half of it.
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1295285942404763648
I've been following Swedish news during the autumn, too. They would've been hard to bear if we hadn't distanced ourselves. Recent example being undermining the new vaccines. At Christmas, right before vaccinations starting, Tegnell wrote: *If* we get effective vaccine...
Here's the original article. It doesn't exactly encourage to take the vaccination - like it should. In that way it could be a self-fulfilling profecy.
https://www.di.se/nyheter/det-troliga-ar-att-covid-19-ar-har-for-att-stanna/
This works:

'I believe in getting immunity the old-fashioned way: By letting a bat virus take control of my lungs and turn my face into a disgusting plague fountain while my immune system desperately Googles "how to make spike protein antibodies".' https://twitter.com/xkcdComic/status/1337563643064451074
The current situation.
Because of the new faster-spreading virus variant, Finnish government is now considering tighter restrictions and stricter border health security to push down the spread, depending on new information about the variant.
- https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/marin_vaccine_roll_out_is_a_marathon_not_a_sprint/11722695
- https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/18498-yle-more-of-british-coronavirus-variant-detected-in-finland.html
Based on how Finns felt about the lockdown in spring - restaurants closed, schools in distance learning, but you could shop for groceries and go out as much as you wanted -, Finns would adapt well to tighter restrictions. https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1326524469112938501
https://twitter.com/VirpiFlyg/status/1326525352609533952
There are also differing voices. The director of health security in THL, which advices the government, said it would be an "endless swamp" trying to stop different virus variants and that it's unknown whether this one is spreading faster. https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000007708460.html
Then again, they don't make the call, the government does, as they have done before. In spring, THL estimated the mortality being the same with of a regular flu and wanted to choose the same path as Sweden, but in mid-March, government decided on a lockdown that proved effective.
I'll try keep you updated on the situations in new tweets. The year ended so it's time to end this massive thread. Thank you so much for reading, sharing, commenting, following and supporting! I've also received amazing DMs with feedback & interesting stories. More are welcome!
You can follow @VirpiFlyg.
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