Not going to Sweden. Death rate is darn near 12%. Not prudent at all. Worse than New York which is weird to me.
We need to think long term (relatively speaking) about the Sweden model, yes they went a different way and even they admit they screwed up on nursing homes. However
despite their initially high numbers, they might actually do better than the rest of us in total percent since they might not get a second wave of cases between now and when
ever widespread effective vaccines are available. Plus their economy is still relatively vibrant. I'm not saying they are right, (easy guys) I'm just pointing out they are doing it a different way and
we probably won't know for 5 years whether they were correct. It probably won't take that long for the health numbers to settle, but the economic numbers might. I don't want
to get into the economy vs health debate which would quickly go political here, but one needs to factor in that the economy effects health. A bad economy can effect health, long term
stress is never good for the body. Heart attacks, strokes, spousal abuse, child abuse, suicide, and increased deaths due to lack of health insurance can easily go up during economic stress.
I hope for a returning vibrant economy to spring up, but who knows it may undulate for several years after this pandemic wraps up.
All that to say, I think Sweden is doing the world a favor in doing it their way. If all the first world countries handled the pandemic the same way there is less to be learned. Whether they are
correct or not, five years from now we'll have much more info than if they did it the same way as the other countries.
Only somewhat related I found
this interesting. I remember as a kid not being allowed to go places because of polio concerns.
The summer of 1952 was hot, even by Texas standards: 25 days above 100F (38C), the “cool” days not much cooler. But across the state, swimming pools were shut. Cinemas, too, and bars and bowling alleys. Church services were suspended. Cities doused their streets with DDT insecticide; by now, health officials knew that mosquitoes didn’t spread the disease, but they had to be seen to be doing something. Nothing seemed to work. As the summer wore on, the numbers of.....
