Look Lars, all of the girly men from the village are scared of the coof coof. Ya

I suppose by "success" one means a much higher case rate and much higher death rate than the neighbouring countries!  That in my book is failure.  

If you want data then look up and compare Sweden with Norway:.https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

EdwinSm, wrote: I suppose by "success" one means a much higher case rate and much higher death rate than the neighbouring countries!  That in my book is failure.   If you want data then look up and compare Sweden with Norway:.https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Sweden is right in the middle of the mortality charts for the EU with substantially less damage to their economies, society and mental health.

Demographically Sweden should have had a profoundly low death rate.

The country is not densely populated; it has only 10 million people, yet it is the largest country in Northern Europe.  It works out at around 23 people per kilometer.  (The world average is 48)

The people are naturally reserved, none of that European kissing when you meet rubbish.  Even its landmass is divided, and its capital is a collection of islands, linked by numerous bridges.

It adopted no lockdowns.  Given that its people readily adopted other social distancing methods, and it tried to shield the most vulnerable, its death rate so far is HUGE.  (It reached just under 6 thousand.  OK compared to America or the UK that is tiny, but given the demographics it is actually shocking.  For instance the UK - which did shamefully badly - lost 42 thousand to covid, but that is out of a population of 70 million, crammed in at a level of 270 per kilometer; so it achieved a lower per capita death rate.)   If you compare Sweden to its neighbours Norway and Finland, it looks far worse*.

Yet no herd immunity has emerged and the infection-rates are rising again.  Not exactly a success story!

Quoting one of the many who dissagreed with the Barrington declaration, who likened this approach to putting all your antiques in one room and standing guard with a fire-extinguisher:  "If the blaze outside the room were adequately controlled then maybe, just maybe, they would be able to stamp out all the embers,”  but this approach is to actively encourage the fire. The risk is that too many sparks make it through and all you’re left with is ashes.” 

*Scandiwegan countries for comparison.  The observant will notice the correlation between deaths and population density, as well as the huge (dare I say quantum) jump to Sweden's figures.

Finland:...... ......Density:.......18/km..... ..Deaths:....346,...Population:......5,540,720,....∴ per capita total = 0.0000624467578220881
Norway:............Density:.......15/km..... ..Deaths:....275,...Population:.....5,433,000,.... ∴ per capita total = 0.00005061660224553654
Denmark:...... ...Densdity:....137/km.......Deaths:....663,...Population:.....5,792,202, ....∴ per capita total = 0.00001144642400247781
Sweden:...........Density:.......23/km....... Deaths:..5892,...Population:...10,099,265, ....∴ per capita total = 0.000583408792620057