Posted on 05/15/2020 9:02:11 PM PDT by DoodleBob
Sweden has taken the rap for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Pictures taken from a certain angle of busy parks and bars, showing Swedes basking in the sunshine after a long, wet winter, suggest many people, especially the young, are carrying on as usual. Nothing could be further from the truth.
"There is a view in the British tabloids and some other media that life in Sweden is normal, and that Sweden is pursuing a coronavirus strategy based on developing herd immunity, but this is wrong," says James Savage, CEO, and Publisher of The Local, the English digital newspaper in Europe. "Life in Sweden is absolutely not going on as usual."
"Sweden is simply trying to flatten the curve and avoid a second spike," he observes. "The authorities' message can be muddled at times, but herd immunity is spoken of as a possible side-effect of the strategy, not the primary aim."
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While universities and high school (gymnasium) are closed, with students studying online, all other schools and day-care centers have remained open. Didrikson’s partner works full time, so he welcomes that, admitting he doesn’t know how working parents with no childcare manage.
Didrikson disagrees with the suggestion that the government's policy is endangering too many people in the interests of the economy is wrong. Instead, he says, this is a policy based on expert scientific advice and trust. "We're putting decisions in the hands of those who know best. We don't know if the Swedish authorities are right or not, but we trust them."
A poll in Dagens Nyheter showed 70% of the population had a high degree of trust in Sweden’s approach. Moreover, trust in Sweden's public health agency has increased since the coronavirus pandemic began.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
"We are putting decisions in the hands of those who know better"
it's a sober reminder that all that good stuff comes with Greta Thunberg-like environmentalis that just happily shut down its last coal-fired power plant two years ahead of schedule.
Life in Sweden hasn’t been normal since they welcomed all the muzzies.
Wreckage of our economy and loss of liberty is a bridge too far. Very tragic that anyone would accept this nightmare.
much of europe has a deathwish
"The aim is to limit the spread of the disease by making recommendations, rather than quarantines. The hope is that by keeping large parts of society open and following scientific advice, the country may avoid some of the worst social, economic, and medical consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. "
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Sweden is trying to balance all the factors and go for voluntary cooperation, instead of all or nothing, emergency orders, and threats of police showing up. Maybe they got this right.
“Sweden is trying to balance all the factors and go for voluntary cooperation, instead of all or nothing, emergency orders, and threats of police showing up. Maybe they got this right. “
Yes! The Control Freaks elsewhere could not wait to give their micromanaging orders to their subjects. It’s what they’ve been dreaming about all their lives.
And fearful sheep go “baaaa! Thank you for saving us baaaaa!”
“Sometimes you have to look at society as a whole and what is best for everyone," says Didrikson..."We are putting decisions in the hands of those who know better."
We, too, put decisions in the "hands of those who know better." But starting back on FR in January, there were some very heated debates with lots of smart (and not so smart) people on this board. It was bedlam and a demolition derby of flubros and flubras, TEOTWAWKI people, hysterics, and everything in between. However, in that stew of the marketplace of ideas, we all got up to speed quickly on things like R0, Case Fatality Rates, the logistic function, and the like.
In turn, while none of us are virologists nor do we play one on TV, I believe we ALL came away much smarter...and early on we saw that a lot of what was coming out of Imperial College in the UK, WHO, CDC, and all those who know better et al, was a load of horse hockey.
Now, all those who know better won, and they gave us the ensuing lockdown. To be sure there are 80k+ dead people now who were alive on Valentine's Day. This bug can kill you more ways than Australian wildlife.
But now that the Empire has struck back, the Jedi are returning, We, too, have been reading the Lancet and the NEJM. This is, in part, why the Jedi and ewoks are helping to opening up the nation.
I'm not saying Sweden got it wrong. As I've said repeatedly, keeping kids through 16 yrs of age in school was smart. So was keeping the businesses open. But you can't disentangle the two.
...and having survived the debate on FR, there is less of a chance that I'll listens to authorities.
Don’t agree with your 85k dead number. True stats are more likely half. Unrelated deaths across the country are being counted as a Coronavirus deaths.
The sweedish health system is shite
Their leaders are boxed in with no choices
My 85k number is the JH number from GitHub. That is the same source for the SE number that is about 20k higher on a size- and time-adjusted basis. If the US number is inflated (and it very well may be so) then the gap is even wider. This makes the SE “let’s do what the ‘experts’ tell us to do” approach even less appealing.
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