Current results of Sweden's approach

Again it’s trend that counts. Sweden said they would have higher initial numbers but over time the gap would narrow and ultimately they would have better numbers. The trend shows that’s process is well underway.

 

...and yet Sweden has a higher Covid-19 death rate than the US.

 

Sweden 567 deaths per million
US 506 per million.
Very slightly higher
And both very very small.

 

Its not very accurate to compare Sweden to the US. The culture in the US is very different, the US is an international destination, Americans tend to be skeptical of science, and are very individualistic. Its best to compare Sweden to its neighbors. As you can see, the pandemic lasted much longer in Sweden and there were far more cases.

Sweden:


Norway:


Denmark:


Finland:

 

One also has to balance the economic costs that Sweden did not have to bear by shutting down it’s economy.
Some would say this doesn’t matter but the scars that have been left by the millions of jobs forever lost because small businesses could not sustain long shutdowns are not coming back.
The Swedes have now likely been fully exposed and I don’t think that the same can be said of their neighbors so don’t be too surprised to see a spike in cases for Sweden’s neighbors.
The Netherlands also handled this well by trying to limit exposure but never being foolish enough to try to eliminate it. Compare it to neighboring Belgium if one wants to juxtapose success.
By all measures that people who believe in the myth of tight shutdown, Japan should be a total confound. No shutdowns, the oldest demographic in the world, and densely packed but with one of the lowest caseloads in the world.

 

They're not? Why not? Jobs lost to bad circumstances never return? Dam, I didn't know that. All those jobs we lost in the 30's were never recovered?

OTOH dead people really never do come back. Ever. Anytime. I'm pretty certain that is the case.

I like small businesses as much as the next guy. (I've even run a few) but I'll be ******med if I want to DIE for them

 

Those are just meaningless numbers. Grossly inaccurate on the US side, probably much closer to accurate and meaningful on the Swedish side.

The more important factor is the quality of life. High anxiety and authoritarian response in the US, very libertarian in Sweden, with no crushing of the economy.

In the land of the free and home of the brave, people were locked in their houses and treated like animals, while the Swedish government treated its citizens like responsible adults, and they responded in kind.

 

None of these numbers will ever be worth anything until case and death rates are based on actual testing done from the beginning of this pandemic. The Italians tested everyone, the Dutch very few as did the Americans (to this day, California does not report cases and deaths unless testing was positive while New York conflates presumed cases into their statistics for example) so we have little idea how many cases and deaths directly resulted by positive testing.

It is scientifically statistically gibberish.

And as a trained scientist it embarrasses me.

The economy of Europe and America was trashed in 2020. All out of unfounded fear of a virus that killed so proportionately few. Sweden may have had more cases and even that is in question but they didn’t suicide their economy nor did the Dutch.

 

Now compare that to Sweden’s neighbors.

10-20 times higher

 

Sweden’s economy did no better (and in some cases worse) than their neighbors who didn’t have a death count nearly as high

 

Thank you for supporting my point.

 

Oh, OK. My bad.

 

Are we really worried about less than 600 per million? If so we in the west are merely looking for drama.

 

That would translate to more dead than we had in WWII

 

I'm not worried if you happen to be one of the 600/million. I just don't want to be one of the 600.

 

While I respect your opinions and agree with much of what you say on this issue I don't believe you have the numbers correct in this case.

Rich

 

then what are the correct numbers?

 

Yes bad things happen to people but I suggest you arm yourself against things that are much more dangerous than a 600 to a million chance of killing you.

 

How can they have better numbers if everyone gets herd immunity when the same percentage of people get infected?

 

Agreed and I feel I am armed against as many things as I can be. The problem is we have just added one more thing to try and arm against. 60 per 100,000 will increase the US death rate by approximately 7%.

 

Many more died in WWII then have died from Covid-19. Even if current world wide Covid death rates continue at the same pace for the next two years the numbers still won't come close to WWII's death toll.
That said I still feel it is a good idea to take precautions like wearing a mask to protect our fellow citizens.

 

I do wear a mask when in public spaces even when not required but mostly to make others feel more comfortable.
It’s just that this seems never ending with people saying that it is economically feasible to lock down until things are totally safe and then they say this could take years. That’s not doable.
Now some are even saying that even a vaccine won’t make people safe!
Life is essentially back to normal here in Amsterdam and I think it is because the wave crested and the virus has moved on to the Americas. There it will also crest.

 

...and yet some people are unable to see the forest for the trees.

 

And when the rate is so vanishingly low, particularly when deaths are factored in, does the rate really even matter?

 

THAT is the point, thank you!

So much emphasis on numbers derived from garbage input shows the Fear Factor at work.

So many americans are so completely mesmerized by essentially meaningless numbers that they are unable to step back and see what's happening.

Masterful propaganda and fear mongering, and the people are unable to see it.