In a report, economists at Uppsala, Stockholm, Lund and Minnesota universities and the Stockholm School of Economics have listed six measures that could mitigate the sharp decline in the Swedish economy during the corona pandemic.

- This is of the utmost importance to really get back to some kind of normal situation for the Swedish economy so that we do not force people to stay home when they have actually gone through the infection, says Daniel Spiro, economist at Uppsala University.

"Tests are the most important"

The most important thing, according to the researchers, is that as many sick Swedes as possible are now being tested so that they can return to work faster and to trade goods and services.

Any covid-19 test could be very expensive and yet economically viable, the researchers suggest that the government use the help of medical technology executives to quickly launch large-scale production of both tests and protective equipment for personnel.

Quickly train staff

Since many are currently unemployed or laid off, these people could be trained quickly to do the testing.

You could think of rotating the staff throughout Sweden so that more people can work with this, says Daniel Spiro.

Economics researchers are also proposing massive government information campaigns on protecting risk groups, setting up exchange sites online where industries can exchange staff with each other and individuals can help each other with relatives in quarantine who live far away. In addition, emergency preparedness work is proposed outdoors for environmental care, renovations and distance training for shortages.

The report is called "Six Policy Ideas for Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic". It has not been scientifically reviewed in a peer review.