The Sweden experiment: how no lockdowns led to mental health, healthier economy

Re:The Sweden experiment: how no lockdowns led to mental hea... by zibzab on Monday August 23, 2021 @03:11AM (#28273052)

I think you are forgetting two important facts that counter your arguments:

1. A significant number of Swedes were in Lombardy (northern Italy) at the time the European outbreak started there. Furthermore Sweden has at least two major companies with presence around Wuhan. So by the time government noticed the issue it was too late.

2. Elderly care employees in Sweden are basically gig workers, resulting in a huge rotation in care givers and further spreading of the virus. The Social Democrats (and the Left party V) have often been opposed to this.

Two more things to consider:

1. This difference between Sweden and its neighbours is also clearly visible in the flu pattern over the year. It is simply due to different living and travelling conditions.

2. The municipalities are somewhat independent of the central government. Some with the highest death numbers among the elders where controlled by the opposition (e.g. Stockholm).

So while the government could have done a MUCH better job, your comment is already fairly partisan by cherry picking or ignoring facts.

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Re:The Sweden experiment: how no lockdowns led to mental hea... by davidjytang on Monday August 23, 2021 @10:42AM (#28276498)

There are counter arguments to your counter arguments: 1. If you are mentioning large amount of people over in outbreak territory, Taiwan had 700K white collars working in China and 150K passengers travel between China and Taiwan weekly. Taiwan took action fast enough to avoid any major outbreak. Flight screening started on the last day of 2019.

2. Huge employee rotation may be exactly why govt should step in?

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Re:The Sweden experiment: how no lockdowns led to mental hea... by pyuser583 on Monday August 23, 2021 @04:17AM (#28273412)

Why were so many Swedes in Lombardy?

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Re:The Sweden experiment: how no lockdowns led to mental hea... by stpe on Monday August 23, 2021 @04:50AM (#28273598)

Around February there's a whole week where schools are closed with the incentive to do sports - especially winter sports (given the time of the year). A lot of people go to ski resorts - the alps (or up north in Sweden - which got mountains but is far from the Alps).

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Re:The Sweden experiment: how no lockdowns led to mental hea... by checkyoursudo on Saturday August 28, 2021 @06:40PM (#28342170)

I lived in a town of about 800 people during the onset and first year of the pandemic. More than a dozen people from my town alone were in Lombardy and a couple of the super early outbreak areas of Germany during 2020 sportlov (the break that stpe mentions in parent comment). I knew first-hand a lot of people who were really ill in March and April, though I don't know if it was covid for sure, since our testing was insufficient then. Anyway, yeah, lots of Swedes traveling to the wrong places at the wrong time right then.

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