Sweden and Covid

Many have complained about Sweden's soft Covid policies.................but not lately.  I find it odd that the folks who complained are now silent about the success.  I suggested a similar soft policy in America, keeping all businesses open.  Cases and deaths in Sweden have subsided, and their GNP is up about 5% vs the same quarter a year ago.

https://tradingeconomics.com/sweden/gross-national-product

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/

Facts don't matter to the left.  They get easily confused and need to push their agenda at all costs.

It's idiotic to politicize coronavirus responses.

I seem to recall about a decade of bitching about how Sweden is SOOOOOOCIALIST and therefore must be a hellhole.

Sweden's "success" came at the cost of four times the infections and deaths of other Scandinavian countries.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53498133

Pretty good article that sums up the grade Sweden gets for its response.   There economy did suffer less than its neighbors...but their death rate was much higher too (about the same as ours).     But their hospitals were not overwhelmed like ours have been (and still are)

My take on it is this:   Sweden  largely made it voluntary for their population to follow guidelines for protection, social distancing...and their population overwhelmingly complied.     BY contrast we did the same thing but our population in large part did not comply.  And the non-compliance was led by our President and the propoganda networks that put his message out.

So the lesson is - we could be in the same place now with the virus with a much better economy.  It just required better leadership that did not undermine science.

But how much intelligence does it take for any person to decide on his own to take precautions?  Certainly the mixed messages at the top didn't help.  But if half or even a fourth of the undecided or indifferent would have complied, how many fewer cases (and deaths) would have been avoided?   

Sweden has a population of 10,230,000.  5763 have died of Covid.  Their economy is humming, unlike virtually all other countries across the globe.

Unlike many Americans, Swedish citizens will have enough money to eat next year.  Shutting down the economy was stupid.

Sweden's aproach yielded more deaths and a lesser hit to the economy.

Europe/Canada/Asia approach yielded fewer deaths and a greater hit to the economy.

The UNited States approach yielded the worst aspect of the two above.    MAGA.

Extrapolated out comparing deaths to population - if Sweden had 328.2 milliom people (like the US currently does) their death total would be 189,092 - compared to the 160,000 deaths currently in the U.S.  If Italy had 328.2 million people their death toll would be on par with Sweden @ 190009 deaths.These numbers speak to PJ's erroneous claim. These numbers also speak for themselves and are undisputable.

Actually it bears out everyhting I said (minus Italy) - and Thank you.

PJ, I agree that the US response was a mistake.  99% Liberals agree with the shut down of the economy.  Do you agree with the shut down of the economy?