Some of the recommendations have changed, but not by a lot. And not all recommendations have become stricter. For example: in April we were advised not to travel further than 2h from our homes, and the recommendations for 70+ were harsher than the rest of the population. These recommendations are no longer in effect.
Shopping centres are still open with unlimited capacity. Masks neither mandated or recommended. I was in a hospital a month or so ago, and saw one or two masks in total, and none among the nurses or doctors. Last time I was in a pharmacy nobody wore a mask.
The change of policies in Sweden seems to be entirely political, not driven by the health authorities who stand by their decisions (I have a German article about it, but perhaps you can find something in English). The curve of deaths the second wave is much smaller than the first wave, nothing that really warrants such a change of course. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/
As for excess deaths, you really have to look at it over the years, not just at single years. Comparisons with "neighboring" or "similar" countries don't automatically make sense, given that deaths are often driven by local hotspot events (like infections spreading in nursing homes).
And looking at these graphs (https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid) gives you a pretty clear picture. You see clear mortality spikes and, in the case of the US, an overall above average mortality rate. Just why anybody is trying to ignore that is just beyond me by now. And again, all this with measures in place.