Posted on 06/05/2020 5:51:02 PM PDT by DoodleBob
Sweden now has among the highest per capita death rates from Covid-19 in the world. Why?
The answer is simple. Sweden was lax in its implementation of protective measures in the face of the outbreak, refusing to implement broad stay at home orders for residents, or to enforce recommendations to wear masks or social distancing measures. Other than the government decision to shut down universities and high schools, compliance to public health recommendations was entirely voluntary.
Early on, my Swedish friends seemed proud of their exceptionalism. They sent many of their children to school without many of the protections that are both in place and under consideration in many other countries. Outside the country, many voiced their praise of Sweden’s “common sense” approach, which they wagered would be less economically destructive than stricter measures and would not lead to any greater number of deaths.
They were wrong. Even the chief architect of the Swedish anti-coronavirus plan is able to admit it. In an interview translated by Reuters, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist told Swedish radio that the country clearly could have done better in fighting the virus and that there was “quite obviously a potential for improvement in what we have done.” In particular, he said Sweden should have started testing earlier and more extensively and they should have done more to protect older adults in Sweden’s long term care centers, where more than half of all Sweden’s coronavirus-deaths have occurred.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Or they will continue to try and outlast you. 8>)
Sweden got it wrong, but that's not because of their policies but because of their fatalistic trust in "science" and "experts." Sure, the "experts" were right about the young and healthy but all these geniuses (you know...who push green policies and gave the world our senior climatologist St Greta) didn't see that the virus would kill older people like a twister through a trailer park. Or, maybe they were OK with killing off the elderly - the American statists like Cuomo hate the older folks, too.
In moving the goalposts, you expose the argument to Sweden's inevitable lurch toward mass clamping down in the fall, because these "officials" need to keep their jobs. In contrast, the demolition derby of America's states rights approach saw disaster in the Blue States and success in the Red States. However, I suspect we will see a risk-based approach if the bug comes this fall. Some states like NJ and MA and NY will never learn, but purple states like PA and MI may look over their shoulders if they try this dictatorial approach.
You cannot get Sweden's "hands off" policies without herd trust in public officials, something normal Americans will (thankfully) never desire. You can admit SE screwed up and still support opening up America and getting back to work.
Sorry: IO misread “Sweden now has among the highest per capita death rates from Covid-19 in the world” as saying Sweden now has the highest per capita death rate from Covid-19 in the world.”
As long as God allows me to live, if there is coffee I’ll keep on truckin
NP-actually, many news outlets took the original “amongst the highest” headline and altered it to “the highest.” Aside from “microstates”, Belgium is the worst...we should look into their story.
I wonder how many of the 200 under 60 YO deaths were migrants?
The Swedish data 100% proves that lockdowns are completely worthless.
Here’s a plan:
Step !) protect the elderly
Step 2) everyone else carry on like there is no virus.
Step 3) profit
Per Capita deaths in Sweden are 1/3 of those in New York.
Stories about Swedish death rates being the “highest in the world” were cherry picking data over a single 1 week period that was comparing countries that had been locked down for 2 months to a country that never locked down. Apples v. Oranges.
Trump was stupid to re-tweet them.
8>)
Yes, yet the UK, Spain and Italy have higher DPM and France is very close to Sweden, so I do not think this stat supports the polemic that Sweden now has among the highest per capita death rates from Covid-19 in the world" because "Sweden was lax in its implementation of protective measures in the face of the outbreak, refusing to implement broad stay at home orders for residents." Rather, it seems most of those infected were exercising the basic "stay sheltered" mantra, while even the NYT states that "one study of 1,245 coronavirus cases across China found that only two came from outdoors transmission." But as the Democrat and liberal media treatment of million+ Floyd protesters shows, the "stay sheltered" (crash the economy) admonition was largely politically driven.
“For the record, I’ve read a lot on Sweden and I NEVER read that any official said they were taking a long term approach. “
Then you did not read enough, for that is what they said from the beginning, that building herd immunity is long term approach.
“Flattening the curve isn’t enough - We need to extinguish the curve now.”
Speak to whoever said that, which was never me.
“Sweden got it wrong, but that’s not because of their policies but because of their fatalistic trust in “science” and “experts.”
LOL
They rejected the “experts” and their models that WHO, most of the EU and the U.S. were basing their actions on.
“Sweden got it wrong, but that’s not because of their policies but because of their fatalistic trust in “science” and “experts.”
LOL
They rejected the “experts” and their models that WHO, most of the EU and the U.S. were basing their actions on.
“Sure, the “experts” were right about the young and healthy but all these geniuses (you know...who push green policies and gave the world our senior climatologist St Greta) didn’t see that the virus would kill older people”
Sweden saw early that the elderly and those with chronic illnesses were more vulnerable, and they thought they had/were adopting sufficient measures to account for that. They admit now they needed to focus on that even more.
And Sweden recognized early that the young, particularly the children were not vulnerable so much to the virus and they correctly did not close the schools. Their kids did not have a year of missed education.
“In moving the goalposts,”
I never moved the goalposts.
I have consistently said from early on that the real test of Sweden’s approach can only be judged fairly at least no sooner than 2021. If other countries get a late 2020 into early 2021 surge in cases, and deaths, that is not anywhere as big in Sweden at that time, then Sweden’s approach in the first face may be shown to have been right. That is not a goal post change. I have said that all along.
“You can admit SE screwed up and still support opening up America and getting back to work. “
Sorry, I can DEMAND the U.S. open up (which I have for weeks), and I do not have to bow to you as far as Sweden is concerned.
I. Fact, at the bottom of the NPR article, there is a correction - Correction April 27, 2020 An earlier version of this story said the Swedish government is pursuing a strategy of "herd immunity." Swedish officials say their plan was to impose limited restrictions instead of a lockdown but have denied they were purposely pursuing a strategy of herd immunity.
Here are four other sources where Swedish govt reps explicitly state that herd immunity is NOT part of their strategy:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/architect-of-sweden-coronavirus-strategy-admits-too-many-died-anders-tegnell ("the (no lockdown) policy, which Tegnell has said was aimed not at achieving herd immunity but at slowing the spread of the virus enough for health services to cope")
https://www.ft.com/content/31de03b8-6dbc-11ea-89df-41bea055720b ("Swedish authorities have said they are not explicitly pursuing a strategy of “herd immunity”, where a large segment of the population contracts the virus in order for society to build up immunity.")
Hellengren: Sweden not pursuing herd strategy
For the record, I trust Anders Tegnell more than Fauci. I also think the thrust of Sweden's approach was reasonable. Why they effectively left the door open to elder care facilities and, according to my math, effectively killed more people 70+ than New York State (88.5% of Sweden's COVID19 fatalities were of people 70+ while they made up only 12.5% of all SE citizens; in Cuomo-land, these respective percentages are 65.6% and 9.4%) is a question for another day. In addition, because of the nature of Sweden's economy (heavily export-dependent) they are very much on the ropes now.
In truth, I didn't look through your posting history so if your goalposts have been Dec 2020+ vs May then my apologies. However, they haven't been pursuing herd immunity officially. Ultimately, I care about the US - let's open it up now (and we never should have kicked it in the gonads in the first place). Have a great evening.
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