Posted on 03/18/2022 10:37:14 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Sweden made the right decision not to impose a lockdown early on in the COVID pandemic, but should have introduced more measures earlier, a government-appointed commission said on Friday.
The Scandinavian country made headlines early on in the pandemic by not introducing a lockdown, instead issuing recommendations on homeworking, social distancing and good hand hygiene.
"In comparison with the rest of Europe, Sweden has come through the pandemic relatively well and is among the countries with the lowest excess mortality over the period 2020-2021," the commission wrote in its final report.
"Focusing on advice and recommendations which people were expected to follow voluntarily was fundamentally correct. It meant that citizens retained more of their personal freedom than in many other countries", it said.
But tougher measures should have been introduced in February-March 2020, the report said, noting that during the first wave Sweden had death rates that "were among the highest in Europe".
"Earlier and additional steps should have been taken to try to slow community transmission of the virus", it said.
While the commission hailed Sweden's decision to keep most schools open during the first wave, it said that by March 2020 there "should have been temporary closures" of indoor places where people gather, such as shopping centres, restaurants, sport events and so on.
In particular, it criticised the fact that it took until the end of March 2020 for the limit on public gatherings to be lowered to 50 people.
At later stages of the pandemic, Sweden eventually introduced stricter measures, including bans on elderly home visits, earlier closings at bars and restaurants, and vaccine passes for indoor events.
The commission also said the government should have assumed leadership of all aspects of COVID crisis management, despite the Public Health Agency's large degree of autonomy and a healthcare system managed by self-governing regional councils.
"The government had too one-sided a dependence on assessments made by the Public Health Agency", it said.
An earlier partial report by the commission had also criticised the country's slowness is setting up adequate testing measures.
With more than 17,000 fatalities so far, Sweden's death toll is slightly better than the European average but is far higher per capita than those of neighbouring Norway, Finland and Denmark.
The Scandinavian country lifted all its COVID restrictions on February 9.
Sweden has 1765 COVID dead per million so far in the pandemic.
Their Scandinavian kinsmen across the border in Norway that did lock down have 395 dead per million.
Because it is not and never has been about our health and well being.
Typical government stupidity on display.
What a bunch of idiots.
Sweden did not do better or worse than other nation that did lockdowns.
This proves the lockdowns were ineffective
And New Jersey where I live with a population and land area close to Sweden’s had well over 3,000 with lockdowns ,maskification and stay at home rules for kids. I’ll take Sweden;s approach next time.
Sweden and Norway as of 19 March 2022.
Source: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu
( 18,053 Swedish Covid deaths / 10,206,072 population of Sweden ) x 100 = 0.177 % Swedish mortality rate.
( 2,169 Norwegian Covid deaths / 5,492,904 population of Norway ) x 100 = 0.039 % Norwegian mortality rate.
Comparing the more "deadly" Swedish coronavirus result with the less "deadly" Norwegian result is correctly an arithmetic matter of 0.177 being greater than 0.039.
But comparing Sweden with the enlightened Covid response in the US presents a different comparison. It becomes not a matter of lockdown versus no lockdown, but something more elusive.
( 970,806 US Covid deaths / 334,289,437 population of US ) x 100 = 0.290 % American mortality rate.
As one may compare, Sweden's mortality rate is less than the US under Collins, Fauci and Walensky. So where has it been more "deadly" to be?
The survival rate for Covid in Norway over twenty-seven months has been 99.96 %, while in Sweden is has been 99.82 %, but in the "deadly" US, according to all the "official" data from "official" sources the survival rate for Covid in the general population has been 99.71 %.
A survival rate in the general population measured across a twenty-seven month span is, at worst here, 99.71 %.
Lock down versus not locking down. No determination can be made, unless one looks at the official China data from JHU. A nation with 1,448,751,056 people have "officially" 10,037 Covid deaths, for a mortality rate of 0.00069 %.
Obviously then, China is "the place" to be REALLY safe from Covid....if one accepts the "official" data and "official" recommendations and "official" analyses.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.