[Velvet]

Originally Posted by jebartle

And this too will pass!
.

And hopefully, you and I won’t pass along with it.

[manaboutown]

Sweden'''s coronavirus response protects its economy | Fox Business

[MOMOH]

Is there any evidence that getting coronavirus DOES NOT provide immunity? Have people gotten it twice? And, I'm not understanding why this virus would be so different from all the others that DO provide immunity. What other viruses don't provide immunity?

[Mikee1]

“We trust each other,” she said. “The people trust the authorities and the authorities trust the people. And I think that’s one of the biggest differences.”

A quote from the article which explains the major difference between them and the US

[rlcooper70]

You have it right - Sweden was willing to accept a certain number of deaths in order to keep society functional. In the US we are not .... we reference the tragedy of a death in comparison to profit and decide to focus on preventing a death. Societal Decisions versus protecting the individual? What's the right answer?

When I ask this question the reply is "what if it were your wife?" ... so perhaps there is no right answer.

[Leadbone1]

Originally Posted by GoodLife

No lockdown in Sweden but Stockholm could see '''herd immunity''' in weeks

On the herd immunity vs lockdown debate, I found this in another article

Protecting a population from becoming infected with aggressive containment is like protecting a forest in the path of wildfire – unless continuous fire fighting efforts are made, the forest will eventually burn. Aggressive contact tracing, testing, quarantine and lockdowns minimise contagion and have substantially reduced early fatalities from COVID-19.

But unless those who remain uninfected are protected until effective pharmacological interventions (vaccines, prophylactics and therapeutics) come online, the ultimate burden of deaths may be the same in countries who opt for lockdown as in those who adopted more liberal containment strategies.

Coronavirus: are we underestimating how many people have had it? Sweden thinks so

I wish we had handled this the same as Sweden. They get it. You cannot stay locked in your house forever and sooner or later you’re going to have to go out and take your chances with this the same as you do any other virus or disease. Fortunately, there are a few antiviral medications now that can control this to a large degree. I choose to live my life and take my chances just like I do every other day. Those that choose to remain paranoid can just lock themselves in their houses for as long as they choose. What they don’t have the right to do is tell anyone else how they should be living their life.

[GoodLife]

Originally Posted by rlcooper70

Sweden was willing to accept a certain number of deaths in order to keep society functional. In the US we are not ....

I have some facts for you, Sweden has a lower death rate per million than the USA does due to coronavirus. In fact ours is almost double.

Sweden 3.96 per million

USA 6.56 per million

Daily confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people - Our World in Data

[davem4616]

We visited Stockholm last August...nice city, not really very crowded...public transportation also not very crowded

I too have been reading the articles referring to Sweden's approach to covid-19 with interest

I do wonder how much of their 'success' has to do with the limited travel coming into Sweden this time of year....I suspect that travel to Sweden in January/February is pretty low compared to other times in the year...as well as compared to the number of people from all over flying into NYC in January/February

We can learn from everyone, however, I sense that comparing what's going on in Sweden to the States is a little like trying to compare apples and oranges

[merrymini]

WHO has proven itself to be so wrong in the only thing it should be right in because of it’s political motivations. You have to be free from influence and they have blown it big time.

[Stu from NYC]

No idea what the right answer is but WHO has certainly lost a lot of its credibility.

[Love2Swim]

Originally Posted by davem4616

We visited Stockholm last August...nice city, not really very crowded...public transportation also not very crowded

I too have been reading the articles referring to Sweden's approach to covid-19 with interest

I do wonder how much of their 'success' has to do with the limited travel coming into Sweden this time of year....I suspect that travel to Sweden in January/February is pretty low compared to other times in the year...as well as compared to the number of people from all over flying into NYC in January/February

We can learn from everyone, however, I sense that comparing what's going on in Sweden to the States is a little like trying to compare apples and oranges

I agree. Another factor is the closeness of people living together, like New York City and Miami. They apparently don't have that in Sweden to the extent we do.

[GoodLife]

Originally Posted by Love2Swim

I agree. Another factor is the closeness of people living together, like New York City and Miami. They apparently don't have that in Sweden to the extent we do.

Percentage of Swedes who live in urban areas is 65%, about the same as USA at 64%

Do more people live in urban or rural areas? - Our World in Data

[Ben Franklin]

Population of Sweden: 10 Million. Population of USA 331 million. Density of Sweden 63 people per sq. mile. USA 96 people per sq. mile. Deaths from COVID 19: Sweden 2,194. 0.021% USA 54,265. 0.16%.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by devorejh

I wish we had handled this the same as Sweden. They get it. You cannot stay locked in your house forever and sooner or later you’re going to have to go out and take your chances with this the same as you do any other virus or disease. Fortunately, there are a few antiviral medications now that can control this to a large degree. I choose to live my life and take my chances just like I do every other day. Those that choose to remain paranoid can just lock themselves in their houses for as long as they choose. What they don’t have the right to do is tell anyone else how they should be living their life.

There are no anti viral medications now that can control this AT ALL.

[MandoMan]

As of this morning, the number of virus deaths in Sweden is twice the number of deaths in Florida. Five times as many have died in Sweden as in Denmark, which closed things down. Ten times as many have died in Sweden as in Norway, it’s closest neighbor, which isolated even more effectively than did Denmark.

I guess we will find out if the Swedes quickly achieve herd immunity. I hope they do. I hope we do!

The business angle is a very serious question. Things are not going to simply restart and return to normal. Only after businesses try to restart and do it for a few months will we know the effect on the worldwide economy. For example, I have a close friend who is a director of a major European bank and based in New York City. The CEO says employees will no longer have to come to the office in New York if it makes them uncomfortable. If employees want to come to the office, they can come only one day a week. (My friend says no way she is going back to the New York office—she’ll work from home.) Conferences in person will no longer be allowed. Flying to meet with clients will no longer be allowed. How will that affect the country? Well, for a few things, just for this bank, several thousand business-class flights won’t be made—every week. A thousand nights in expensive big city hotels will not be booked—every week. Several thousand meals in very expensive restaurants won’t be purchased—every week. This means tough times for airlines and thousands of airline employees, hotels and thousands of hotel employees, taxis and thousand of drivers, restaurants and thousands of employees. It means a huge drop in transportation and hotel and restaurant taxes that support many large cities with lots of business and tourism. My friend’s bank expects this to continue until vaccines are available and given to nearly everyone and until there are antiviral drugs developed and available. (And don’t expect new antiviral drugs to be cheap. Some are $12 per pill, but one recommended drug is $118,000 per weekly dose.)

So we may decide that Sweden did the right thing and saved its economy, while our panic destroyed ours. Would it be better to take the chance on two to ten times as many deaths? Tough question. Are you willing to lose your own life, your spouse’s, your son’s, your daughter’s, your grandchild’s?