BBC News - Covid-19: Is Sweden getting it right?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54561201

ABC News: Australian expats in Sweden share what life is like under the country's unconventional pandemic approach.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-18/australian-expats-life-in-sweden-during-covid-19/12759732

So far deaths way down though.

Well Carbon, if Australia would have followed the Swedish patterns of death then your death toll would be near 15,000 instead of 904.

On the other hand if USA had followed Sweden there would have been about 31,000 fewer deaths there.  

Looking at the graphs, I can't help wonder if the lack of protection for old folks meant that most of the vulnerable people where hit, and died,  in the early first wave.    Clearly this was ethically a bad move.  We are too early into the second wave to see if Sweden will avoid another spike in deaths.   IF Sweden can avoid a second spike then one needs to look at the ethical dilemma of will letting people die early to prevent a larger number of deaths in the long run.  

Of course if one is to do comparisons then the best would be to compare Sweden with Norway - same geographical area, similar ethnic mix. similar economies and social structures, but different approaches to the coronavirus.  

There are cultural differences between U.S. and Sweden which underscores why U.S. numbers are much higher.   For example, Swedes aren't a huggy kissy lot.  It's just not done.   Social distancing didn't seem to be an issue either. In addition, my cousins in Sweden say that authorities went far further to protect its vulnerable population from the beginning of all this than the U.S.  I'd also like to add that as a socialistic democracy, their population doesn't worry about the cost of healthcare as it is free.

In the early days of the pandemic Sweden was the poster child for a light approach to lock downs.   Those calls seem to have died down as the approach did not work, Now...

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf says coronavirus approach 'has failed'

Sweden is also said to have one of the highest per capita Covid-19 death rates in the world.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55347021

CNN were reporting just this morning that Sweden had asked for help, as its approach had failed so badly.

I only wish they had never attempted it.  Many countries' leadership has taken their approach on board, and adapted their covid-measures based on Sweden's approach.  The disasters have internationally been made worse as a result.  They have even been used as a springboard for arguements on here for less obsessive covid measures:-  and our membership are generally far more smart and clued-up than most.

That Ivanka Trump still backs it does not surprise me. America has been devestated by the ineptitude of its approach so far, but:  "family first, country second"  I can actually get my head around.  Threats to my country would be fiercely fought, but threats to my family would be fought first and even more fiercely.  So, I do get it.  In her shoes, I might have done the same - assuming I had not assasinated my own dad first. 

The reckoning.  An op-ed piece, but worth the read for the facts.  

https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2020/12/sweden-s-covid-19-failures-have-exposed-myths-lockdown-sceptics?fbclid=IwAR15X6wnf_apuO8ocQND6yw0UMdngyxx1Lj_VupRIRCrm0EOfnhOQU4dCNU