Sweden during the Pandemic

[cato potatoe]

Sweden during the Pandemic

AUGUST 29, 2023 • POLICY ANALYSIS NO. 959
By Johan Norberg

After all was said and done, astonishingly, Sweden had one of the lowest excess death rates of all European countries, and less than half that of the United States.

One reason why Sweden got through the pandemic in a much better shape than many scholars, journalists, and politicians expected was that they only thought in terms of strict government controls or business as usual. They failed to consider a third option: that people adapt voluntarily when they realize that lives are at stake. Swedes quickly changed their behavior and mostly followed the recommendations. As early as April 2020, half the workforce worked from home and public transport usage had declined by half. Mobility data from telecom providers show that mobility patterns in Sweden were similar to those in neighboring countries. If anything, Swedes reduced their travel a bit more in the aggregate.

The difference was that if Swedes decided, based on local knowledge and individual needs, that they had to go to work, exercise, or meet a relative or a friend, they could do that without being stopped by the police. This meant that the pandemic became less politicized in Sweden and perhaps also that people accepted the need to live under extraordinary conditions for longer than they would have if they didn’t have these individual emergency exits.

https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/sweden-during-pandemic

[DB]

We would have been better off had the government done nothing. As usual... But I'm told over and over that the guy who was President at the time bears no responsibility for what happened "by doing something"...

[Smokin Joe]

In other words, aside from some buildings that demanded masks, Sweden operated much as North Dakota and a few other States did.

No passports, no arrests, no lockdowns.