LIBERTARIANISM KILLS:

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' Expert Group on Covid-19, responsible for the report, had a number of critiques of the Swedish pandemic response.

The report criticises actions taken early on in the pandemic, stating that organisations were "inadequately prepared" when infection started to spread - in terms of knowledge as well as equipment such as face masks - and that high death rates during the first two waves of the pandemic were due to "mild and tardy" measures to prevent the initial spread of infection.

Face masks for those in regular contact with the elderly are also highlighted in the report as an important protective measure which should have been implemented. However, the Expert Group does not solely place blame on individual care providers and organisations, highlighting that crisis management responsibilities lie with the government, and that individual care providers were not supported enough by authorities, leaving them "unable to take the responsibility expected of them for their clients' safety".

The Expert Group criticises the fact that authorities did not try and limit imported infections at an early stage, despite the fact that researchers in China were warning of a global infection risk as early as February 2020. It also states that authorities should have considered the importance of "counteracting local outbreaks, or of testing and quarantining people who had been exposed".

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