Why Swedish parents’ ‘sick child leave’ is on the increase
More parents than usual are taking time off work this autumn to care for a sick child, with 25,000 people applying for VAB (the welfare benefit paid out to mums and dads who have to stay at home to look after an unwell child) on one Monday of October alone.
One reason may be an unusually intense season of RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, after a largely non-existent spread of the virus last year due to pandemic restrictions, reports the TT news agency after speaking with doctors as well as the Social Insurance Agency.
Swedish vocabulary: mums and dads – mammor och pappor
Swedish party leaders clash in televised debate
Sweden’s party leaders faced off in a debate organised by public broadcaster SVT on Sunday evening – the last one for Prime Minister Stefan Löfven before he steps down as leader of the Social Democrat party and the Swedish government in early November.
They went head to head on issues such as jobs, climate, education and crime, and clashed when Green Party leader Per Bolund labelled the right-wing opposition “blue-brown” – referring to the conservative parties (“blue”) and the Sweden Democrats’ neo-Nazi roots (“brown”). It’s not unusual in Swedish politics to refer to parties by their perceived colours (the ruling left-wing coalition is often described as “red-green”), but the right-wing parties and the Sweden Democrats have slammed the epithet “brown”.
You can watch the debate via SVT Play (in Swedish).
Swedish vocabulary: blue brown – blåbrun
Travel to Sweden: Vaccinated travellers from UK exempted from Covid entry ban
From today, people who can show a UK-issued proof of Covid-19 vaccination can enter Sweden for the first time in months. This means that UK arrivals who can present such a certificate are now exempted from the entry ban and the requirement for a negative test on arrival to Sweden, regardless of their residency status or reason for travel.
The entry ban has been in place since 2020, but did not affect UK residents until the end of that year, because it was treated as an EU/EEA country until the end of the post-Brexit transition period. Under the entry ban, people wishing to travel to Sweden from outside the EU/EEA needed to fall into an exempt category (such as travelling for urgent family reasons or being a Swedish resident) as well as providing a negative test.
Read more in The Local’s article about the new rules for UK arrivals.
Swedish vocabulary: proof – bevis
People who can show a UK-issued proof of Covid-19 vaccination will soon be able to enter Sweden for the first time in months, after the government announced changes to its entry ban. https://t.co/ZB1bINAfhm
— The Local Sweden (@TheLocalSweden) October 7, 2021
It’s time to get your winter clothes out
Temperatures are set to dip across Sweden this week, with both colder days (but in some parts of the country at least sunny) and frostier nights. The autumn season has reached almost all of Sweden now, and northern Sweden can expect winter to arrive soon.
Sweden’s meteorological agency SMHI defines autumn as having arrived when the average daily temperature stays below 10C for five consecutive days, and winter when it dips below freezing for five days. You can track the progress of autumn and winter via SMHI’s map of the seasons, which shows how the temperatures vary across the country.
Swedish vocabulary: season – årstid
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