The Swedish experiment of doing remarkably little about Covid-19

Ug make hammer · Jan 17, 2023

Sandokan said:
According to the article, “the data shows the policies of Finland and Norway have been even less restrictive than Sweden's for most of the pandemic.” Jon Miltimore provide the information that prove that Norway and Finland have less restrictive polices than Sweden's for most of the pandemic. He says: Norway and Finland show that the coronavirus doesn’t care about government policy. Their numbers have remained low with moderately strict lockdowns and with laissez-faire policies.”

"with moderately strict lockdowns and with laissez-faire policies" is a contradiction, in case you didn't notice.

"Lockdowns" were policies where people were discouraged from even leaving their homes. Perhaps you've forgotten. Perhaps you don't give enough credit to the humble dog owners who just wanted to walk their dog, and were harassed for stopping for a chat while doing that, and who called their representative in large numbers. A strict lockdown is stopping citizens on the street and asking their business. A "moderately strict lockdown" is shutting businesses so the employees no longer have that reason to leave their home.

I supported lockdowns and business shuttering at the time. I over-estimated how bad the pandemic could be. I admit I was wrong: deeming some businesses "essential" and others "non-essential" screwed up the world economy. But there was a nub of good sense in it: shuttering only those businesses in which transmission of the virus is unavoidable (like hairdressers), requiring moderate changes of practice in other non-essential businesses, and leaving it to the market to separate safe-practice retailers from unsafe ones, would have achieved as much but with less overall damage. It's easier in retrospect.

I would never say "leave it to the market" entirely, but in the US there simply aren't enough civil servants to control all the businesses in a case-by-case basis. A large part of the private sector needed to be left to its own devices, to attract customers or not based on the measures they voluntarily took to reduce Covid transmission. A few needed to be shuttered entirely. And in between, in the businesses that could continue but with altered practices, there government resources are enough to regulate them.

In the US, it was the primary duty of Federal Government to guide State policy. They went hard one way (for lockdowns) then hard the other way, and succeeded only in a political aim of dividing America (with its open borders between States), State against State. It would be giving Trump too much credit to say he did this on purpose. His intention was never anything more than avoiding responsibility. Trump was, and still is, just a boy walking clumsily in his father's shoes.

Sandokan · Jan 31, 2023

.

Fledermaus said:
Look at COVID rate compared to Sweden's neighbors.

joluoto said:
Finland had more restrictive Covid policies than Sweden at start, then Sweden started to catch up, and they were about the same.

When people compare the per capita death rate of Sweden is larger than its neighbors Norway and Finland, they do not realize that those countries have less restricts policies that Sweden. Besides, Sweden has a larger elderly population, where a large number of covid deaths occurred, than its neighbors. Sweden migrant population close to 26%, much higher than in Norway and Finland, accounted for 40% of covid death. As of reporting date June 19, 2022, by OECD, Sweden place first of 31 included nations, among those nations with the lowest excess mortality rate, lower than all the Scandinavian countries.

Fledermaus · Jan 31, 2023

Sandokan said:
.When people compare the per capita death rate of Sweden is larger than its neighbors Norway and Finland, they do not realize that those countries have less restricts policies that Sweden. Besides, Sweden has a larger elderly population, where a large number of covid deaths occurred, than its neighbors. Sweden migrant population close to 26%, much higher than in Norway and Finland, accounted for 40% of covid death. As of reporting date June 19, 2022, by OECD, Sweden place first of 31 included nations, among those nations with the lowest excess mortality rate, lower than all the Scandinavian countries.

ORLY?

Citation?

COVID deaths per million....

Sweden 45

Norway 106, Finland 74, Denmark 81

Lower = Better

COVID Live - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

Live statistics and coronavirus news tracking the number of confirmed cases, recovered patients, tests, and death toll due to the COVID-19 coronavirus from Wuhan, China. Coronavirus counter with new cases, deaths, and number of tests per 1 Million population. Historical data and info. Daily...

www.worldometers.info

Manc Skipper · Jan 31, 2023

Sweden is having another second winter Covid wave, higher than last year's!

Sandokan · Feb 17, 2023

Here’s a brief summary of how Sweden has handled the Covid-19 pandemic
Covid-19 in Sweden | sweden.se

Click to expand...

Sweden and corona – in brief
January 9, 2023

During Covid-19 in Sweden, the Swedish government has presented many different measures in several areas to fight the coronavirus. Independent expert government agencies make recommendations, the government makes decisions. The decisions have all aimed to:

limit the spread of infection in the country

ensure healthcare resources are available

limit the impact on critical services

mitigate the effects on people and businesses

ease concern, for example by providing information.

Sweden’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been about taking the right measures at the right time, because different measures have been deemed effective at different points in time. The country’s response has been partly based on voluntary action. For example, rather than enforce a nationwide lockdown, the authorities gave recommendations: to stay home if you've got symptoms, to keep a distance to others, to avoid public transport if possible, etc.
Click link above for full article.

This summary prove why Sweden success in the handling the covid pandemic. As the article says, “Sweden’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been about taking the right measures at the right time, because different measures have been deemed effective at different points in time”

Sandokan · Mar 4, 2023

The Swedish strategy has gone from being called a disaster to a success. Sweden was accused of conducting an experiment on its population. In reality, Sweden was the control group and the rest of the world experienced an experiment. Today most countries are taking similar approach to the pandemic.

Sandokan · Mar 30, 2023

Norway's top epidemiologist: Sweden handled Covid well - The Post (unherd.com)

BY JAMES BILLOT - Thursday, 16 March 2023

Preben Aavitsland. Credit: SvD

One of Norway’s leading epidemiologists has claimed that criticism of Sweden’s Covid strategy was excessive. Preben Aavitsland, who served as Director for Surveillance at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, argued that other countries “hid their own insecurities by scolding Sweden” because the country “undermined their mantra that we had no choice”.

In comments made to Swedish paper SvD, Aavitsland explained that while Norway’s “harder line” may have prolonged the lives of old people, he added that the model of “long, hard lockdowns” that was inspired by Italy and China made Sweden “the contrast they did not want”. Sweden “forced them to explain to their citizens why they acted as they did,” the epidemiologist explained. “For these people, it would have been better if everyone had done the same”.

Unlike the rest of Europe, Sweden largely avoided implementing mandatory lockdowns, instead relying on voluntary curbs on social gatherings, and keeping most schools, restaurants, bars and businesses open. This made Sweden an outlier, turning the country’s then-chief state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell into a hate figure, as he received death threats and urges to resign throughout the pandemic. This month, he told his successor to “have ice in your stomach”.
Click link above for full article.

Preben Aavitsland is right on target when he says: “Sweden handled Covid well”, explaining the reasons why. Sweden became “the contrast they did not want.” What other countries did was to use hard lockdowns, shutting down debate and calling miss information those that claimed that lockdowns would do more harm than good. Firing people who didn’t get vaccinated and force people to were a mask. Sweden place first among 31 nations, including Nordic countries, with the lowest excess mortality rate.

Ug make hammer · Mar 30, 2023

The thread has been dead for over three weeks. Let it go.

Bucky · Mar 30, 2023

Ug make hammer said:
The thread has been dead for over three weeks. Let it go.

Why? It is a masterclass on how the pandemic should have been handled.

PeteEU · Mar 31, 2023

Sandokan said:
. Sweden place first among 31 nations, including Nordic countries, with the lowest excess mortality rate.

That is because Sweden stopped counting after the first 15k dead.

Sandokan · Apr 17, 2023

Sweden, with practically no lockdowns, no school closures and no mask mandates, is an example that freedom results in a better outcome for the people than restrictions. Fear was the main reason people complied with those draconian measures. It was more about political power to control the people than to help them. Preben said, “Maybe people are willing to accept very strong restrictions if the fear is great enough”. Maybe next time people will wise up.

Sandokan · May 2, 2023

Warming up to Sweden's successful pandemic approach? | The Manila Times

Click to expand...

OBSERVER

By Yen Makabenta April 13, 2023

First word

BECAUSE a Covid-19 outbreak could strike the country again, it is conceivable that the Marcos government and our health authorities will instinctively revert to the IATF (or some version of it) and impose anew community quarantines and lockdowns.

Great is the official conviction that the lockdowns and draconian controls, together with the Covid vaccines, had worked effectively to moderate the suffering wrought by the pandemic.

Today, with the pandemic largely under control, the global perspective would overwhelmingly reject the lockdown as a harmful and self-defeating policy measure. Even the seemingly benign face mask will probably be discarded as ineffectual.

It is rare for a prestigious newspaper and media organization to admit publicly an error in its reportage and editorial judgment. Most of the time, we in the news business prefer to keep this kind of news to ourselves.

Great therefore was my surprise when I read a commentary on how the New York Times has conceded that Sweden may have gotten right its response to the pandemic, and how the NYT had joined in the public condemnation of that country for its laissez faire policy toward Covid.

Jonathan Miltimore, managing editor of the Foundation for Economic Education, wrote a commentary entitled "The New York Times finally warms to Sweden's pandemic response —three years later" (Epoch Times, April 7, 2023).
Click link above for full article.

In his article, Yen Makabenta says: “I read a commentary on how the New York Times has conceded that Sweden may have gotten right its response to the pandemic, and how the NYT had joined in the public condemnation of that country for its laissez faire policy toward Covid.” He add this comment, last week the New York Times published an article that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. “How did no-mandate Sweden end up with such an average pandemic?' the headline asked. The NYT basically has admitted that is was wrong in its condemnation of Sweden policy regarding covid. The Swedish strategy has gone from being called a disaster to being a success with regard to its policy toward covid.

Sandokan · May 15, 2023

‘You have to understand how a society works’: Swedish epidemiologist defends light-touch pandemic response – The Irish Times

Click to expand...

Newspaper claims Anders Tegnell’s controversial approach yielded better outcome than previously thought

Derek Scally

Thu Mar 9 2023 - 15:48

Sweden’s former chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has described criticism of his Covid-19 approach as “exaggerated”, after a Swedish newspaper presented statistics it says vindicates his light-touch strategy.

While the rest of Europe responded to the pandemic with lockdowns, school closures, face masks and widespread testing, Mr Tegnell (67) pushed a strategy of few restrictions in Sweden.

Initially highly popular at home, the Tegnell approach increasingly divided public opinion both there and across Europe, with critics pointing out that Sweden had more Covid-19 deaths than its Nordic neighbours combined.

A final state report logged 13,000 Covid deaths in Sweden, more than five times the 2,500 deaths in neighbouring Norway, with half the population.

In recent months Mr Tegnell has disappeared from public view. A planned job at the World Health Organisation fell through and he remains a controversial figure in expert circles.

Now the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet claims Sweden fared better in the pandemic than previously claimed, based on Sweden’s 2020-2022 excess mortality data, which shows how many more people than expected die during a period.

Usually about 90,000 Swedes die annually but in 2020 some 98,000 deaths were registered. Official numbers from Sweden’s statistics office show deaths dropped to 92,000 in 2021 and just under 95,000 in 2022.

“Figures for excess mortality in Europe during the first three years of the pandemic show that Sweden ranks lowest in the entire EU, and in the Nordics, during this period,” wrote Svenska Dagbladet.

With these numbers the newspaper approached Mr Tegnell, asking if his light-touch pandemic approach was right after all.

After recalling the tragedy of lives lost, and the limitations of excess mortality data, Mr Tegnell added: “In any case, when it comes to this measure, Sweden has obviously done quite well.”

“I don’t think it would have made a big difference to the spread of infection if, for example, we had been quicker in limiting the number of spectators at larger events,” he said.

Asked whether fewer people would have died in spring 2020 if his organisation had intervened more quickly and decisively, he said it was “an impossible question to answer”.

“I don’t even think with the data we have today we can answer that, because we still know very little about the effects the measures had,” he said.

Sweden’s approach had benefits not immediately visible, he said, from lower levels of domestic violence, continued medical care for cancer patients and others and none of the child development issues seen in countries that chose lockdowns and school closures.

Two official studies last year were scathing of Sweden’s “late and not very powerful measures that failed to significantly limit the spread of infection”.

“Between 10,000 and 12,000 lives were lost in Sweden due to the Swedish government’s inaction,” argued one critical analysis, Sweden’s Pandemic Experiment.

After three intense years, at times living with police protection, Mr Tegnell said he was satisfied “that we did a good job”.

“You can’t just have a narrow virus perspective,” he said. “You have to understand how a society works.”

Anders Tegnel recommended approach to the pandemic has been vindicated by the analysis of the data. According to the article about Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 published in the Lancet April 2022, Sweden placed 176th of 194 included nations, among those nations with the lowest excess mortality.

Fledermaus · May 15, 2023

Sandokan said:
Anders Tegnel recommended approach to the pandemic has been vindicated by the analysis of the data. According to the article about Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 published in the Lancet April 2022, Sweden placed 176th of 194 included nations, among those nations with the lowest excess mortality.

Sweden was nearly a hundred positions worse than their sister nations.

Sandokan · May 30, 2023

Fledermaus said:
Sweden was nearly a hundred positions worse than their sister nations.

Excess Deaths = Reported Deaths – Expected Deaths.

Cumulative excess deaths percent

Sweden 6.7

Norway 6.9

Denmark 12.9

Finland 17.6

Sweden beat all the Scandinavian countries. Its approach resulted in a lowest excess mortality rate overall, a great achievement.

Fledermaus · May 30, 2023

Sandokan said:
Excess Deaths = Reported Deaths – Expected Deaths.

Cumulative excess deaths percent

Sweden 6.7
Norway 6.9
Denmark 12.9
Finland 17.6

Sweden beat all the Scandinavian countries. Its approach resulted in a lowest excess mortality rate overall, a great achievement.

Incorrect.

Sandokan · May 30, 2023

Anders Tegnell on Sweden’s pandemic plan: ‘Lockdown was never on the agenda’ (telegraph.co.uk)

Click to expand...

While the world’s governments pushed crippling Covid restrictions on their people, one nation – and one man – stood apart

ByAllison Pearson23 March 2023 • 6:00am

‘What Tegnell did in the spring of 2020 will be valued and discussed long after he is gone’ CREDIT: Lars Ardarve for The Telegraph

In March 2020, as, one by one, every country in the Western world succumbed to panic and imposed a lockdown on its population, Sweden’s state epidemiologist held his nerve and stuck to the plan. The Swedish people would be given sensible advice and told to work from home wherever possible, but apart from a ban on gatherings of over 50 people and a few rules for restaurants, any Covid measures were entirely voluntary. Anders Tegnell simply didn’t think the evidence supported a lockdown. A veteran of the swine flu pandemic who had worked with the deadly Ebola virus, the 63-year-old doctor wasn’t going to do something unproven or plain stupid because a lot of over-heated people were yelling at him to do it.

This was Sweden’s first piece of good luck. Years earlier, Tegnell had been talent-spotted by Johan Giesecke, who then held the title of state epidemiologist himself. Giesecke singled out the young medic for his character, which he praised as “apolitical – one of those people who did what they were supposed to without reflecting too much on what was expedient or politically viable at the time” (A sort of anti-Matt Hancock). Tegnell possessed the same cool detachment that made his fellow Swede, Björn Borg, a great champion. He even shared the tennis star’s match-winning mantra: “Ice in the stomach.”
Click link above for full article.

This long article is a most reading. Still there are attempts by some people to demonstrate that Sweden strategist was wrong. The country did a good overall job in extremely difficult circumstances. Sweden has the lowest rate of excess deaths of any European country, a great achievement. Anders Tegnell approach was proven right. He deserves to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

In many other countries, lockdowns and school closures, caused more long-term harm than covid. Those countries should have emulated Sweden, not China.

TU Curmudgeon · May 30, 2023

PeteEU said:
That is because Sweden stopped counting after the first 15k dead.

Not true

BTW, you do realize that COVID-19 has now fallen to being the 7th biggest cause of death in the US (behind Alzheimer's)

don't you?

Sandokan · Jun 15, 2023

Sweden’s Covid death rate among lowest in Europe, despite avoiding strict lockdowns (telegraph.co.uk)

Click to expand...

New WHO figures show pandemic wrought ‘staggering toll’ of almost 15m fatalities, but harsh restrictions were not the key to beating virus

BySarah Newey, GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY CORRESPONDENT5 May 2022

Sweden’s death rate during the Covid pandemic is among the lowest in Europe, despite the country refusing to impose strict lockdowns, according to new figures from the World Health Organization.

The UN health agency released estimates of excess deaths - people who died directly and indirectly from Covid - showing the pandemic had wrought a “staggering toll” worldwide, with 14.9 million fatalities, three times higher than fatalities officially reported.

Britain, according to the new data, had a lower excess death rate than Spain, Germany and Italy.

Experts said the difference demonstrated stringent lockdowns alone did not determine success when battling Covid-19.
Click link above for full article.

World Health Organization (WHO) figures show Sweden’s Covid death rate among lowest in Europe, including Nordic countries. It is official, strict lockdowns were counterproductive, they did more harm than good. Sweden was the anti-lockdown exception.

Cumulative excess deaths percent

Sweden 6.7

Norway 6.9

Denmark 12.9

Finland 17.6

TU Curmudgeon · Jun 15, 2023

Sandokan said:
World Health Organization (WHO) figures show Sweden’s Covid death rate among lowest in Europe, including Nordic countries. It is official, strict lockdowns were counterproductive, they did more harm than good. Sweden was the anti-lockdown exception.

Cumulative excess deaths percent

Sweden 6.7
Norway 6.9
Denmark 12.9
Finland 17.6

That's interesting. Now did you know that Sweden

actually has a higher number of Cases per Million than Russia and Canada?

And did you know that Sweden

actually has a higher "Deaths per Million" than Germany, Canada, and Japan?

But, then again,

you don't really care about ALL of the data, do you?

PeteEU · Jun 16, 2023

TU Curmudgeon said:
That's interesting. Now did you know that Sweden

View attachment 67452767

actually has a higher number of Cases per Million than Russia and Canada?

And did you know that Sweden

View attachment 67452768

actually has a higher "Deaths per Million" than Germany, Canada, and Japan?

But, then again,

View attachment 67452770

you don't really care about ALL of the data, do you?

Also need to factor in that by the time Sweden got hit, most of the world had closed its air travel.

TU Curmudgeon · Jun 16, 2023

PeteEU said:
Also need to factor in that by the time Sweden got hit, most of the world had closed its air travel.

And you also need to factor in that the Swedish government realized that "doing nothing" wasn't working and so changed their official position to the same position that Canada, the US, and the remainder of the G-8+China countries were adopting AND that the Swedish people said

"Ja, det är meningsfullt. Det ska jag göra."
("Yes, that makes sense. I'll do that.)

(which was a "slightly" different attitude than that of a large percentage of the American people) and didn't have to be legislatively coerced into doing what had to be done to slow the spread of COVID-19

Sandokan · Jun 30, 2023

The New York Times’ Stunning Confession on Sweden’s Pandemic Response - Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org)

Click to expand...

The Grey Lady reported in 2020 that “Sweden Has Become the World's Cautionary Tale” for its Covid response. It's singing a very different tune in 2023.

Friday, April 14, 2023

Jon Miltimore
A couple of weeks ago, The New York Times published an article that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

“How Did No-Mandate Sweden End Up With Such an Average Pandemic?” the headline asked.

Times writer David Wallace-Wells doesn’t accept claims that Sweden—which drew intense criticism for refusing to go into lockdown in 2020—had the lowest excess death rate in Europe, with just 3.3 percent more deaths than expected, the lowest percentage among OECD countries. But he does concede that “it’s hard to argue on the basis of Sweden’s epidemiological experience that its policy course was a disastrous one.”

The Grey Lady reported in 2020 that “Sweden Has Become the World's Cautionary Tale” for its Covid response, and the Times was joined by a chorus of media outlets (and President Donald Trump) who alleged Sweden had “botched the pandemic” and amplified the virus.

Today we know this was not the case. And though Wallace-Wells seems to begrudge Anders Tegnell—the architect of Sweden’s policy—taking a “victory lap through the media,” it’s worth pointing out that the epidemiologist received death threats for his pandemic response, which looks better with each passing week.
Click link above for full article.

The MSM and other organizations spent years criticizing Sweden’s Covid policies. Risk groups are protected, and people with flu symptoms stay home. "If you follow these rules, no need for further measures, the effect of which is only marginal anyway,“ chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.

TU Curmudgeon · Jun 30, 2023

Sandokan said:
The MSM and other organizations spent years criticizing Sweden’s Covid policies. Risk groups are protected, and people with flu symptoms stay home. "If you follow these rules, no need for further measures, the effect of which is only marginal anyway,“ chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.

When you compare Sweden with countries at similar economic/social developmental levels you can see that if the US had done what Canada did, the US would have done better than Sweden did.

Of course, doing what Canada did is what you say that the US should not have done.

snakestretcher · Jul 1, 2023

Sandokan said:
The MSM and other organizations spent years criticizing Sweden’s Covid policies. Risk groups are protected, and people with flu symptoms stay home. "If you follow these rules, no need for further measures, the effect of which is only marginal anyway,“ chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.

There were no rules, only suggestions. Sweden fared substantially worse than her Scandinavian neighbours. The herd immunity experiment failed.

Retrospective Review of Sweden’s Approach to the Pandemic

Read more about FlowMetric's updated retrospective review of Sweden’s decentralized approach to the pandemic and an in-depth breakdown of all of their decisions.

www.flowmetric.com

Covid-19: herd immunity in Sweden fails to materialise | The Royal Society of Medicine

Sweden’s policy of allowing the controlled spread of Covid-19 viral infection among the population has so far failed to deliver the country’s previously stated goal of herd immunity.

www.rsm.ac.uk

Fact check: Sweden has not achieved herd immunity, is not proof that lockdowns are useless

With hundreds of thousands of views and over 3,000 shares on Facebook, a video produced by the conservative U.S. nonprofit PragerU claims that “Sweden is the proof that lockdowns are useless” in stemming the spread of COVID-19 and that its population likely has “herd immunity...

www.reuters.com

The Swedish experiment of doing remarkably little about Covid-19

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COVID Live - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

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Retrospective Review of Sweden’s Approach to the Pandemic

Covid-19: herd immunity in Sweden fails to materialise | The Royal Society of Medicine

Fact check: Sweden has not achieved herd immunity, is not proof that lockdowns are useless

The Swedish experiment of doing remarkably little about Covid-19

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