The controversial epidemiologist believes lock down is ‘using a hammer to kill a fly’. Could he be proved right?
Interesting article. Sweden’s death rate: “That has given Sweden the fifth-highest death rate per capita in Europe, five times higher than neighbouring Denmark and about 10 times more than Norway and Finland.” Swedish GDP 1st half of 2020: Appx -7%. About the same as the other 3 Scandinavian countries, give or take. The public at large, whether they could or not, showed restraint, negative GDP numbers clearly depicts their behavior. Their economy is much like the US and western countries’ economies, 70%’ish of it is consumer oriented. Way too early to say if their experiment was THE right way to go. In a couple of years we’ll know.
I think Sweden and the world will know by the one year anniversary of the Pandemic...next March 2021. The one thing that stands out to me as expected is the social / psychological toll on a country. Sweden has done far better than the U.S. and other western countries that are currently dealing with a lot of civil unrest for other issues not related to the Pandemic but the Pandemic was like the straw that broke the camel's back via exposing long existing problems in societies. Yet, the health care policy in all countries including Sweden weren't adopted because of any potential civil unrest. wrbtrader
It depends on the average behavior of a country's citizen. If every citizen is responsible enough and take proper precaution, then lockdown is not necessary. Wearing mask does not prevent the disease but it cut the risk of infecting others. Yet, there are some who think it's their right not to wear it. Mindfulness.
The problem in the US is that it turned into politics. From an abroad perspective, it really looks like the Democrats are willing to do anything to decrease the US economy as that is what seems their best bet at winning the election. So if this had happened another year, the US situation would have been a lot different. And from a Scandinavian perspective, Sweden does not have the same financial possibilities as Norway and Denmark. They did not have a choice, as their population is different and their economy in a lot worse state.