Those right-wingers who praised Sweden's response to COVID-19 are looking pretty stupid now

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

It seems 2020 was the year that the political right fell into a weird love affair with Sweden. This “high-tax, welfare-loving country” with a universal healthcare system took a unique, “hands-off” approach against the novel coronavirus, much to the delight of Libertarians and anti-vaxxers eager to sow distrust of governmental actions on Facebook. Even traditional “conservatives” such as Newt Gingrich and Tucker Carlson reflexively jumped at any chance to capitalize on the public’s discomfort with social distancing and inconvenient business lockdowns imposed in this country.

The Swedish model, as it became known, eschewed business closures and relied entirely on the personal responsibility of Swedish citizens to demonstrate appropriate risk-avoidant behavior during the pandemic. Essentially, in Sweden, large public gatherings were banned—but bars, restaurants, shops and many schools remained open, with no specific guidelines regarding social distancing, beyond voluntary “common sense” measures. So the protocol in Sweden was, in practice, not particularly different from those being put into place by Republican governors in states which relied on their citizens’ “good judgment,” rather than mandatory face mask orders and of the shutdown of certain businesses.

And for about two months, into late April, the rest of the world could still gaze with wonder at the carefree Swedes who had inexplicably beaten the virus through their own volition, without any irksome mandatory orders or restrictions. Though harshly criticized by many scientists and medical professionals within Sweden itself, the methodology chosen by Stockholm found some very visible champions. Folks like Anders Tegnell, that country’s chief epidemiologist, declared rather presumptuously at that time that “Many countries are starting to come around to the Swedish way.” In the same interview, Tegnell candidly disavowed any knowledge in the economic consequences of Sweden’s efforts.

Sweden’s champions in this country drew heavily from the Libertarian right, including Republican Senator Rand Paul who always seemed to include a favorable reference to Sweden in his scripted exchanges with Dr. Anthony Fauci. One would generally expect a snooty ignoramus like Paul to make an idiot of himself every time he opens his mouth, but in this particular circumstance he was hardly alone. Indeed, for a brief moment the Swedes seemed the victorious heroes in the global war against COVID-19.

Unfortunately, that is no longer the “enlightened consensus.” As reported by Peter Goodman for The New York Times, not only does Sweden now have a fatality rate six to 12 times higher than its Nordic neighbors Denmark, Finland, and Norway (all of which imposed mandatory lockdowns and enforced quarantines), it has virtually nothing to show for these sacrifices from an economic standpoint.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/7/9/1958933/-Those-right-wingers-who-praised-Sweden-s-response-to-Covid-19-are-looking-pretty-stupid-now?detail=emaildkre

[flor-de-jasmim]

1. If the RWNJs had gone for the Swedish health care system, they'd still be better off.

[Celerity]

2. fuck the RW'ers, BUT this article pushes flat out lies- so sick of this disinfo campaign about what

we did here in Sweden.

The Swedish model, as it became known, eschewed business closures and relied entirely on the personal responsibility of Swedish citizens to demonstrate appropriate risk-avoidant behavior during the pandemic. Essentially, in Sweden, large public gatherings were banned—but bars, restaurants, shops and many schools remained open, with no specific guidelines regarding social distancing, beyond voluntary “common sense” measures.

is just a flat out lie


all upper secondary and university level schools were closed, all gatherings over 50 were banned, all nightclubs closed, restaurants have legally binding orders that limit percentage of use, and require table service only for those that choose to stay open (many have went to take-way and /or delivery only) Most all elective health care and non critical care has been suspended, etc etc. Many businesses closed down, some permanently now.


this is from April, for instance, to show how long it has been going on, that it is not some brand new thing


Sweden to shut bars and restaurants that ignore coronavirus restrictions

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sweden-stockholm/sweden-to-shut-bars-and-restaurants-that-ignore-coronavirus-restrictions-idUSKCN2262AX


and an interview with Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin


'The biggest myth about Sweden is that life is going on as normal'

https://www.thelocal.se/20200424/interview-isabella-lovin-coronavirus-the-biggest-myth-about-sweden-is-that-life-is-going-on-as-normal



another flat out lie from the OP article

“They literally gained nothing,” said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “It’s a self-inflicted wound, and they have no economic gains.”

Sweden's economy actually grew in the first quarter after it opted against a full virus lockdown

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/29/coronavirus-swedens-gdp-actually-grew-in-the-first-quarter.html

The Swedish economy expanded at a far superior rate than many of its European counterparts over the first three months of the year, data published Friday showed, following the government's decision not to impose a full lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The Nordic country's statistics office reported gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic health, grew at an annual rate of 0.4% in the first quarter.

Sweden's GDP increased by 0.1% in the first quarter, when seasonally adjusted and compared to the final three months of 2019. The median forecasters in a Reuters poll of economists had expected to see a 0.6% contraction on a quarterly basis.

snip


Here in Sweden we have had one death under 20, and that was a 4 year old a couple months back with multiple comorbidities. Zero deaths in the school age cohort of 5 years old to 20yo, 8 deaths aged 20 to 29, and 16 deaths aged 30 to 39. That is a total of 25 deaths under 40 years of age (which is half the entire population). 25 deaths out of over 5 million people under 40 years of age. That is a rate of 1 death per 200,000. Under 50 years of age there have only been 69 total deaths (25 + 44). Almost 99% of the deaths here have been over 50 years of age, 96% over 60 years of age, 89% over 70 years of age. 68% were over 80yo, 26% of all COVID-19 deaths were over 90 tears of age.

this is straight from Folkhälsomyndigheten, our official State Health Agency

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/09f821667ce64bf7be6f9f87457ed9aa

Our huge cock-up was in our nursing homes and scattered site elderly care. That is where the majority of deaths occurred. Our elderly care system is run differently that the other Nordics and is much more wide open (in terms of visitation) and has far too many non-professionally trained (to a sufficient degree) workers. The youngest half of our 10.1 million population (so over 5 million) have had 25 total COVID-19 deaths. None who are K-12 school age, with 1 total (a 4 year old with multiple pre-existing health issues) under 20 years of age, 9 total deaths under 30 years of age.

Denmark and especially Norway have poached so many of our best doctors, nurses, and licensed health-care workers as they pay far higher wages (especially Norway) than Sweden does in large part due to our vastly higher expenditures on the massive amounts of refugees we have taken in over the past 20 years or so (the US population-adjusted equivalent of over 50 million people.) Unlike the US, we just cannot turn on the 'printing press' and conjure 100's (or even 10's) of billions (in the US's case trillions) of dollars out of thin air. We also have a very weak (in terms of taking over and mandating public actions in regards to health care) central government that is bound by the instrument of law to give vast leeway to the state heath authorities. Denmark, Finland, and Norway do not have such constraints to anywhere near the degree we do.


another thing:

Herd immunity was never the primary goal here in Sweden. I keep seeing this posted over and over and it is simply incorrect. It has come up over and over again because some officials have started talking about Stockholm (where we live) reaching this level by June. That has been misconstrued by so many to think that the drive for herd immunity is the principal core strategy, when it is not.

Hallengren: Sweden Not Pursuing Herd Immunity

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2020-04-29/hallengren-sweden-not-pursuing-herd-immunity

Sweden’s Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren, explains the country is not pursuing a policy of ’herd immunity’ when it comes to coronavirus and that looser restrictions in Sweden are being used because of how long they may have to stay in place. She tells Daybreak Europe’s Caroline Hepker and Roger Hearing it is too early to make comparisons about which countries have made the right policy choices in addressing the pandemic.

Running time 11:20

(Audio at the link.)

more on the false charge of herd immunity being our basic strategy

Sweden hits back at Trump's 'herd immunity' criticism

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/sweden-hits-back-at-trump-s-herd-immunity-criticism-1.1419502

Sweden’s foreign minister Ann Linde has dismissed criticism by U.S. president Donald Trump concerning the country’s outlier strategy to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. “He has used a factual error,” the minister said in an interview on broadcaster TV4 on Wednesday. Her comments follow Trump’s remarks a day earlier when he told reporters that Sweden is trying to achieve “herd immunity” and “is suffering greatly” from not doing enough.

The Nordic country is under intense scrutiny as it continues to experiment with a laxer policy response to the virus despite an accelerating death toll. Restaurants, shopping centers and primary schools all remain open in Scandinavia’s biggest economy. “Some countries seem to think that we aren’t doing anything, but we’re doing a lot of things that suit Sweden,” Linde said.

President Trump’s comments have also drawn the ire of Sweden’s top epidemiologist. “If you compare the situation to New York, where I have a relative working, things here are working well,” Anders Tegnell said in an interview with state broadcaster SVT. Meanwhile Sweden’s prime minister Stefan Lofven has said he sees no reason to respond to Trump, according to Swedish newspaper Expressen. “I have spoken lately to about 10 heads of state and I note that we are all following the same lead strategy,” Lofven said.

snip


The vast bulk of foreign reporting simply ASSUMES that if we are not in total lockdown then that instantly means we are going for herd immunity. That is a pure logical fallacy, one that goes by multiple names: the Either/Or Fallacy, also sometimes called the Black-and-White Fallacy, or the Excluded Middle, or a False Dilemma/False Dichotomy.