Column: Did Sweden beat the pandemic by refusing to lock down? No, its record is disastrous

[steve2470]

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-03-31/sweden-covid-policy-was-a-disaster

Study published in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01097-5

Throughout much of the pandemic, Sweden has stood out for its ostensibly successful effort to beat COVID-19 while avoiding the harsh lockdowns and social distancing rules imposed on residents of other developed nations.

Swedish residents were able to enjoy themselves at bars and restaurants, their schools remained open, and somehow their economy thrived and they remained healthy. So say their fans, especially on the anti-lockdown right.

A new study by European scientific researchers buries all those claims in the ground. Published in Nature, the study paints a devastating picture of Swedish policies and their effects.

“The Swedish response to this pandemic,” the researchers report, “was unique and characterized by a morally, ethically, and scientifically questionable laissez-faire approach.”

Excellent article. This SHOULD be thrown in DeSantis' face, with his bragging about his record in my state of Florida.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. According to this site

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

And you look at deaths per million, Sweden at 2399, is 43rd, behind a lot of countries in Europe, as well as the U.S. Which is not to say I think they did the right thing. They probably didn't.

On the other hand, we can be pretty sure that Sweden has correctly reported its cases of and deaths from Covid unlike, say China. Or India.

[dpibel]

2. Or Florida...

[SunSeeker]

5. Sweden has excellent universal single payer healthcare.

That was their only saving grace, and it kept deaths lower than places like the US, where people just died in their homes/apartments.

[Hortensis]

12. Healthcare was available to all in the U.S. too. Completely FREE, remember?

People stayed home both out of fear and stupidity, believing conspiracist lies that hospitals were killing people, AND from choice -- choosing to die at home with family if it came to that rather. Sometimes it was the family who made the choice for very elderly relatives to protect them from being traumatized.

[SunSeeker]

13. No, it wasn't. That's why the poor and African Americans died in disproportionate numbers.

Although the law required insurers to cover testing for patients who go to their doctor’s office or who visit urgent care or emergency rooms, patients were afraid of ending up with a bill if their visit does not result in a positive COVID test. Furthermore, minority patients who lacked insurance or were underinsured were less likely to be tested for COVID-19, even when experiencing alarming symptoms. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7762908/


And at the start of the pandemic, New Yorkers were dying in their homes at around 10 times the usual rate. The majority of those cases stemmed from low-income residents who could not afford access to the traditional health care system or were frightened to seek assistance because of their immigration status.
https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/04/10/coronavirus-wreaks-havoc-on-new-york-citys-public-housing-1274821

[Hortensis]

15. They avoided or refused care, or just weren't found. Not everyone

has friends and/or family competent to help those who need it for whatever reason. Or neighbors who knocked on doors to check on others.

It's true, in the very beginning of the pandemic Covid care wasn't free for 330,000,000 people, including undocumented immigrants. But it was available to all who sought it. And then it was free also. Thanks to those who made it happen.

But if it pleases you to imagine the deaths are your fault as a member of the greater society (and that IS what we're talking about -- the people who didn't help are us) go to it. If all of us voted smart, informed, responsibly, morally every election, what a nation we'd be. If tRump had been denied... But only a few do, right?

Btw, maybe take this thought with you: in whatever better system some may imagine where undocumented immigrants wouldn't be too frightened to seek help, remember that all of us would make up and run that system also, with all our faults. People who leave dumps and dead people behind would just create new ones. As for what happened in Sweden -- people were in charge and people didn't do their job to keep them in line.

[SunSeeker]

16. If we had universal coverage, they wouldn't have avoided care. And a lot were refused care.

As the study found, many without insurance were not given covid tests, despite have "alarming symptoms." They were just sent home to die.

People don't avoid care if they aren't afraid of medical bills. Americans fear medical bills, because here they are huge. It's the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the US.

[Hortensis]

18. We did have universal coverage for Covid, and your own complaint

is that people died anyway.

If you think back a bit more, you'll recall a big problem from a significant list of why people didn't take advantage of it: that many refused to believe they had Covid or that it would kill. When brought to hospitals, some refused care. It wasn't real, remember?

Another one encouraging people to refuse care and then vaccination was a belief for a while was that it was a "white" disease because initially deaths in Africa and other places seemed to be very low. Some died as a result even though care was available.

From the beginning, our government arranged to bring vaccines to groups that are historically underserved and would be again if they didn't prioritize reaching them. Many were glad to be vaccinated of course, but others refused even when vaccination was literally brought to their doors. And some died as a result.

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Btw, I'm not among those who believe government is SUPPOSED to impose sensible decisions on citizens for their own good. Or as in Sweden, where leaders apparently decided it was sensible, or just desirable?, to deny care to older patients who would have gotten it in the United States.

[SunSeeker]

19. No, we did not. We got close re covid, but nothing like Scandinavia.

I gave you a study that showed why people died in their apartments in New York; it wasn't because they thought covid wasn't real.

[Hortensis]

20. And I told you that if they'd gone for care,

or called an ambulance to take them in, they would have received it. Because that's true.

And as of March 25, 2020, it was free, universal in fact, yet hundreds of thousands REFUSED to seek care until it was too late and millions refused vaccination.

Government is responsible for its own failings, but not people's. Maybe consider that much of what many blame government for is actually due to human imperfection, or simply free choice, baked into humanity. It's important to realize before deciding "the revolution" will fix it.

[SunSeeker]

21. The NIH studies showed otherwise.

Furthermore, minority patients who lack insurance or are underinsured are less likely to be tested for COVID-19, even when experiencing alarming symptoms.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7762908/

Chill, I'm not "advocating for the revolution," just pointing out the fact that we don't have as good a healthcare system as Scandinavia.

[Hortensis]

22. Well, we don't, true. And I never argued that healthcare

was equal, even among an insured population, because it's not. Or that undocumented immigrants who have so much at stake, often not just for themselves but family, may not even bother flipping a coin with their lives but make the choice they always do.

Only that for most of the official Covid epidemic effectively universal free Covid care was available. Lack of available free healthcare was not the reason our death rates were as high as they were. I didn't say it before, but if the information about Sweden is correct, for high-risk populations Covid care was significantly more available and equitable here. If only it was always; I have always very strongly supported universal healthcare.

I am chilling, btw. Thanks for taking it nicely.

[markodochartaigh]

7. I would defend India in this instance.

Even in a normal year India doesn't accurately count deaths. Their system was simply unable to cope with the challenges of the pandemic. This is certainly no defense of Modi, the BJP, or even of the "uneven" handling of the pandemic by Modi and the BJP. But I don't think that it is correct to accuse India of the "whistling through the graveyard" response adopted by a country with one of the world's most advanced health care systems, Sweden.

[scipan]

11. In the study

Even accurate numbers on COVID-19 infections and deaths were no priority, as clear from the restricted access to (often suboptimal) testing and healthcare, lack of contact-tracing to identify suspected cases, delays in reporting and non-sensitive case-definitions (leading to underestimations).

[Skittles]

3. their stance was essentially "fuck the elderly / immune-compromised"

no sacrifice for the common good required....pretty sickening

[SunSeeker]

4. Yup, reminiscent of the days of putting grandma on an ice flow.

Now we have vaccines and Paxlovid readily available. But back then, we had nothing, and yet they just opened up, fuck the elderly and immunity compromised. It was stunningly heartless, but their death rate was not as bad as other places that opened up prematurely because Sweden has excellent universal single payer healthcare.

[burrowowl]

6. K&R

[majdrfrtim]

8. Article in "Nature" published 22MAR2022

Interesting that the “Los Angeles Times” is highlighting it now.

(Quotation marks used in titles in lieu of underlining, not as any indication of disparagement.)

[Scrivener7]

9. TEN TIMES higher death rate.

[appalachiablue]

10. Recently I saw a news program about how Sweden has moved right libertarian

in the last few decades. I'd heard some about this but didn't realize the extent. It has more billionaires per capita than the US which was quite surprising to learn. Perhaps the socio-political system factored into their drastic and inhumane Covid policy unfortunately.

[SunSeeker]

14. "their internal emails indicate their aim to use children to spread the infection in society"

Holy shit. That 2022 study revealed some shocking shit. I'm surprised this was not more widely reported. I'm really disappointed in Sweden.

[erpowers]

17. Throw His Record In His Face

There is not very much need to throw this article on his face. His own record needs to be thrown in his face. More than 80,000 people died in Florida during the pandemic. Should that man really be President of the United States? The pandemic might have been worse if Ron Desantis has been President.