On the 29th October, the local health authority covering the Stockholm region announced tougher recommendations following an increase in positive COVID-19 cases. The recommendations are in effect until the 19th November but could (and my guess is likely will) be extended. Here is the list of things that they are asking the public to do.

• Refrain from being in indoor environments such as shops, shopping centres, museums, libraries, swimming pools and gyms. Necessary visits to for example grocery stores and pharmacies are OK.
• Refrain from attending, for example, meetings, concerts, performances, sports training, matches and competitions. This does not apply to sports training for children born 2005 or later.
• If possible avoid physical contact with people other than those you live with. This includes for example attending or throwing a party or similar social gatherings. Necessary close contact, such as medical appointments, are still ok.
• Businesses, organisations, and workplaces should also take measures to ensure that visitors or employees are able to follow the local coronavirus recommendations. This could include limiting the number of visitors and making sure staff can work from home.

Note these are not laws but recommendations but they are also not suggestions. AS a Swedish friend told me, “Although recommendations are not binding by law, it is neither a recommendation like the one you would give about a film or sandwich either. It has a lot more weight than that.”

To which one a British friend here said, “I think I need to be in Sweden another 5 years at least to understand the subtle difference between a recommendation, a general recommendation that is not optional, a guideline and a law.”

But this is the culture that is Sweden and in lots of ways it’s pretty grown up. The government have issued strongly worded recommendations to the public and asked businesses and organisations to up their game again and for the most part people have done just that.

People are shopping because shops are still open so you can if you like but in a nice piece of social shaming SVT (the national broadcaster) went out to shopping centres and asked people why they felt it was OK to ignore the advice? Every single Swede looked thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

So if you like it’s a voluntary lockdown. Be responsible, avoid crowds, and use your head. Cases will inevitably rise for the next few weeks because there is always a time lag on this but the official language is toughening up. Given the seasons and the extreme amount of indoor life Swedes are about to experience with the short days and long, long nights I’d expect it to get a little tougher still. But there won’t be a legal lockdown just a voluntary one.