COVID, A REALITY CHECK

I’ve been interested in how Sweden handled Covid-19 as they have a population size similar to ours but did not lock the country down.

By Jo at Red Sky in the Morning

Here’s an article by Sebastian Rushworth, a practicing physician in Stockholm, Sweden.
Summing up his report, he said, “the case fatality rate of 0.12 percent is roughly the same as regular old influenza, which no-one is the least bit frightened of, and which we don’t shut down our societies for.

HOW BAD IS COVID REALLY? (A SWEDISH DOCTOR’S PERSPECTIVE)

The doctor did say that it is entirely anecdotal and based on his experience working as a doctor in the emergency room of one of the big hospitals in Stockholm – so I checked the statistics from Statista.

Here’s the statistics: Coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths worldwide per one million population as of August 14, 2020, by country

From the figures you can see that Sweden’s death rate is lower than the UK and Italy, which locked everyone down, so the numbers bear out what the doctor is saying.  

I haven’t investigated the daily suicide rate, but people have and will be committing suicide over this, and for what?  I’m not the only one in New Zealand asking questions.

I regard Covid-19 as a mental health risk as the media and government are dishing up fear on a daily basis.

Also, here’s a video contrasting New Zealand’s handling of the virus compare to Sweden’s called “Reaching For The Precious.”

He’s got the number of international airports wrong – there are three, but otherwise he’s right.

Links 

NZ Herald, Covid 19 coronavirus: Few new cases, but jury out on Sweden’s strategy:

“It’s the country that was heavily criticised for deciding to do things differently when it came to coronavirus – to ignore lockdown and keep bars and schools open.

And it paid a price with at least 5700 deaths, putting it in the top 10 of nations in terms of coronavirus deaths per million.

But, as time goes on, Sweden’s controversial approach to tackling Covid-19 is winning over some sceptics.

The Swedish economy has shrunk less than other nations and cases have fallen dramatically, deaths have essentially dried up and no significant second wave has occurred. In fact, right now, Sweden looks better than Australia.”

Jo-Blogs

NZ

Hi, I live in beautiful New Zealand. I write, I blog, I work, and in my time off I enjoy the great outdoors. I am the mother of two grown children and inheritor of their cats. I work in IT with my husband and son.