There's a third assumption that I find particularly pernicious: that the long-term health effects of getting and surviving COVID-19 don't need to be part of the equation. We're learning more every day about how the disease not only affects the lungs but also the heart, the brain, the kidneys, and so on. Treatments, unlike vaccines, are likely to be mere months away, and don't just include drugs. We're already learning about better ways to deal with the oxygen starvation that is COVID-19's hallmark.

Every person who merely delays getting COVID-19 until better treatment is available is a win. Even if it succeeds by other metrics, the Swedish approach will fail (has already failed) by this one.