Sweden said it didn't need a lockdown because people could be trusted to socially distance themselves. The government still says the strategy is working.

Business Insider via MSN ^ | 04/10/2020 | Sinéad Baker, Business Insider US

[SeekAndFind]

• Sweden is sticking with its unusual coronavirus strategy, relying on people to take responsibility and follow guidelines instead of implementing lockdown measures like most other countries with outbreaks have done.
• There’s only a handful of restrictions in place, like a ban on gatherings of more than 50 people, while shops, restaurants, bars, and schools remain open.
• The government has defended its strategy and says people are following its advice, while statistics have suggested that many people are taking social-distancing steps like avoiding public transport.
• Sweden’s Parliament is also moving to give the government powers to quickly introduce more restrictions if needed, though the government has indicated it does not have any plans to use them.
• The country has seen over 790 coronavirus deaths, and some experts have expressed alarm. The World Health Organization is calling on Sweden to urgently take more action.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Sweden’s government is continuing its unusual coronavirus strategy of refusing to implement a lockdown, saying that people in the country are doing a good enough job of staying apart even as places like bars and restaurants remain open.

The country defied much of the rest of the world by not introducing lockdown measures forcing people to stay apart.

Its actions also went against almost all of the rest of Europe, where the worst-hit countries have put extreme restrictions on people leaving their homes and most others have at least closed bars and restaurants and limited gatherings of people.

It also contrasts hugely with neighboring Denmark, which put restrictions in place even before its first death and is now slowly lifting restrictions.

[SeekAndFind]

Sweden’s strategy of relying on people’s sense of responsibility instead of introducing new laws has not stopped the coronavirus from coming to the country: As of Friday morning, the country of 10 million people had 9,141 cases and 793 deaths.

[Steely Tom]

Someone posted (yesterday) a population-normalized histogram of COVID cases and deaths by country; if I recall correctly, Sweden was ranked #1.

[Hieronymus]

Sweden’s strategy of relying on people’s sense of responsibility instead of introducing new laws has not stopped the coronavirus from coming to the country:

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Nothing has stopped the coronavirus from entering a country. The question is does Sweden’s strategy work better for controlling the impact of the virus once it has entered?

[Jeff Chandler]

That would be the equivalent of 26,169 deaths in a country the size of the U.S. So far we have had 34,243.

[JediJones]

A lockdown can’t prevent the spread unless it’s permanent. As soon it’s lifted, the spread will continue. It is a huge waste of billions and trillions of dollars to slow down the spread of something that is going to happen anyway.

The only prevention measures that should be put in place are SUSTAINABLE ones. Ones which will have to be lifted while the virus still exists are USELESS because all it does is delay the inevitable at a staggering economic cost.

Of course Sweden will have more cases upfront. Those will simply come later in places that lock down. In the end they will all have the same result except Sweden will have a much healthier economy and budget to show for not panicking and implementing pointless, meaningless, useless, irrational, counter-productive policies.

[piasa]

The important question is which countries lose the most freedom to fearmongering.

[norcal joe]

That would be the equivalent of 26,169 deaths in a country the size of the U.S. So far we have had 34,243.

What? So far we have 18,747.

[norcal joe]

Good points.

[MinorityRepublican]

Someone tell this to Mr. Rasputin and Mrs. Rasputin. (The two so-called experts at Coronavirus Press Conference)

[Jeff Chandler]

You’re right. I glanced too quickly at the chart and typed out the new cases.

In that case we’re doing better. At this stage.

[HollyB]

Per million people, Sweden as 86 and the US has 57

[PlateOfShrimp]

There is a great graph on the Watts Up With That Corona page that plots per-capita deaths time-aligned to when they first reached 10 per million. Sweden is one of the better countries. Not sure Trump should have criticized them. He’s getting real bad advice.

We’ve been played.

[HollyB]

That was the purpose of this lock down, to flatten the curve for the sake of care in the hospital.

I’m sure they weighed it out, have hospitals over flowing vs maintaining control. Most countries chose the latter.

[DoodleBob]

That was me...here is my post of population-adjusted and synchronized COVID-19 fatalitiesfor select countries.

As of Apr 9, Sweden stood at 18,848 while the US was at 16,478.

[slickdain]

we have 18k

[slickdain]

look at the last column
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

[Jeff Chandler]

Right. My bad.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Yeah but it is the Mooslims who are dying of it win win.

[nbenyo]

What you are suggesting would cause a much greater panic which would damage the economy more. Not only will people perceive a greater chance of contracting the virus, they will doubt the ability of the healthcare system to treat them if they become sick.

I predict Sweden will take stronger measures as the virus spreads.

[aquila48]

“The government has defended its strategy and says people are following its advice, while statistics have suggested that many people are taking social-distancing steps like avoiding public transport.”

There’s some truth to that. Scandinavians tend to be more conscientious.