Sweden says its coronavirus approach has worked. The numbers suggest a different story

[milestogo]

Source: CNN

Sweden has been an outlier during the coronavirus outbreak. The country has not joined many of its European neighbors in imposing strict limits on citizens' lives, and images of people heading to work on busy streets, or chatting at cafes and bars have raised eyebrows.

Younger children have continued to go to school, although universities and schools for older students have switched to distance learning. Businesses -- from hair salons to restaurants -- have remained open, although people have been advised to work from home where possible.

On April 7, the government introduced a bill allowing it to act quickly and take decisions on temporary measures where needed. Care home visits were banned from April 1 and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs asked people to refrain from non-essential travel, adding: "Keep your distance and take personal responsibility."

Among Nordic countries -- which share similar cultural, geographical and sociological attributes -- the contrast with Sweden is great. Finland declared a state of emergency, closed schools and banned gatherings of more than 10 people on March 16, restricted travel to and from its Uusimaa region on March 28 and closed restaurants, cafes and bars on April 1.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/europe/sweden-coronavirus-lockdown-strategy-intl/index.html

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Sweden has a higher death rate than other nordic countries.

[captain queeg]

1. Ive been watching them. It does t look to me like it's very successful.

But maybe time will tell. They’ll probably go thru whatever for one time, while we will no doubt have multiple spikes. It seems to me people are accepting the idea that the virus will drop off this summer but I don’t see much to indicate that will be the case.

[pnwmom]

4. They appear to be successful because their hospitals aren't overwhelmed. But one reason for that

is they've consciously made a decision just to let covid patients die in nursing homes.

[SunSeeker]

21. Yup. It is a horror show, harkening back to the days of Sweden's eugenics program.

They ended up having to pay for that, literally. https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/mar/06/stephenbates

We'll see how long it takes them to pay for this. One thing they will eventually find is that a lot of young and middle aged adults will die too.

[SergeStorms]

12. Define "very successful".

They seem to be sacrificing a certain segment of the population and are hoping the virus doesn't work it's way down through younger people. Since some studies seem to show that people don't build up immunity to the virus after recovering from it, it's quite possible these people could just contract it again and again. Will they be as lucky the second time? And I certainly wouldn't want to be in my "golden years" in Sweden right now.

[captain queeg]

14. Just reread my post, I meant to say "doesn't"

Contractions often don’t carry thru my text, I need to proof read more closely.

[SergeStorms]

25. Gotcha!

How did we ever live without all of this technology, huh? Auto-correct on my phone has come up with some real doozies in conversations before.

[forgotmylogin]

2. What is up with Sweden?

I thought they were usually on the side of doing what's best for all of them.

[cstanleytech]

3. Was the higher death rate due to the virus infecting more of the elderly in nursing homes or was it

a much higher death rate across the entire population regardless of age?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. Statistically, it might work.

Models of "the curve" have two forms. One rises steeply and quickly, going extremely high, then falls off quickly, going very low. The other "flattened" model has a slow rise, a long plateau, and a slow decline. Both should have the same number of cases, the only advantage of flattening is to keep the total current number from exceeding the health care system's capacity.

If Sweden's curve falls quickly, to a daily number far below the rest of Europe, which attempted to flatten their curve, then maybe they chose wisely, as the economic impact is fairly minimal.

The rest of us will pay for the massive economic shutdown for a long time, perhaps for generations.

Sweden's method predicts a higher death rate, but for a shorter period of time, so maybe a similar rate of total death over the course.

[DoBotherMe]

6. What a bunch of bullshit

[Peregrine Took]

7. Are they willing to let it "wash" over the country and take the elderly and infirmed with it?

I don't get it at all.

[Rebl2]

16. They apparently

don’t care about the elderly and people with pre existing conditions like cancer, those who take medication that lowers their immunity, diabetes,etc.

[obamanut2012]

23. This is literally what they are doing, what Trump wanted here

To let it wash over, and let "the weak" die. It was horrific when Trump suggested it, and it's horrific that Sweden is doing it.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Sweden has a higher death rate than several other nordic countries COMBINED

[BigmanPigman]

9. I read Worldometer charts and noticed these numbers...

these are "deaths per 1 million pop".

Two weeks ago... Today....
Finland. 16....... 36
Norway. 30....... 38
Denmark. 60..... 75
Sweden. 150....... 233

[rocktivity]

10. Why? No front-end mass testing

The fewer infected people that the uninfected people need to "compete" with, the better herd immunity can work.


rocktivity

[w0nderer]

11. K & R N/T

[Progressive dog]

13. These are death numbers per million from today

in Sweden.

The death rate in Sweden has now risen significantly higher than many other countries in Europe, reaching more than 22 per 100,000 people, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University, controlled for population.

By contrast, Denmark has recorded just over seven deaths per 100,000 people, and both Norway and Finland less than four.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/28/what-the-numbers-say-about-swedens-coronavirus-strategy/

[truthisfreedom]

17. The US presently has 58,365 deaths with a population of 331,002,651. 17.6 per 100,000.

We're really not doing very well.

[RobinA]

18. Well, Certainly Better

than ALL the Nordic countries mentioned above.

[LisaL]

20. Check your math.

US is only doing better than Sweden.

[Progressive dog]

26. We'll be number one soon,

that should make Trump happy.

[turbinetree]

15. And in Sweden voting ...........

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/09/despite-making-gains-swedens-far-right-party-remains-out-of-power

[Steelrolled]

19. I think we will understand very well how Sweden

fared in a year or two. Why people are arguing this now is beyond me. I guess it is something to do.

[SunSeeker]

22. Because Republicans are pointing to Sweden to justify ending lockdowns.

We need to be able to understand what is going on in Sweden.

[Steelrolled]

24. This is what I am saying - as much as we'd like to understand what is going on

in Sweden, we have little chance. We don't understand all of the factors. The "fog of war" is a fitting metaphor. Look at the big differences within Europe, all of whom are taking very similar measures. The same goes for US states. We might well find, in a year or so, that much of what we are doing has very little effect There is the danger of "groupthink".