{"id":211010,"date":"2020-07-27T07:46:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T07:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=211010"},"modified":"2020-07-31T05:45:20","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T05:45:20","slug":"sweden-the-one-chart-that-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=211010","title":{"rendered":"Sweden: the One Chart That Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Mike Whitney \u2013 The Unz Review July 25, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sweden-daily-death-toll.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-211012\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sweden-daily-death-toll.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sweden-daily-death-toll.png 600w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/sweden-daily-death-toll-300x255.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">While the Covid-19 epidemic continues to drag on in the United States, it\u2019s largely over in Sweden where fatalities have dropped to no more than 2 deaths per day for the last week. Sweden has been harshly criticized in the media for not imposing draconian lockdowns like the United States and the other European countries. Instead, Sweden implemented a policy that was both conventional and sensible. They recommended that people maintain a safe distance between each other and they banned gatherings of 50 people or more. They also asked their elderly citizens to isolate themselves and to avoid interacting with other people as much as possible. Other than that, Swedes were encouraged to work, exercise and get on with their lives as they would normally even though the world was still in the throes of a global pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The secret of Sweden\u2019s success is that its experts settled on a strategy that was realistic, sustainable and science-based. The intention was never to \u201cfight\u201d the virus which is among the most contagious infections in the last century, but to protect the old and vulnerable while allowing the young, low-risk people to circulate, contract the virus, and develop the antibodies they\u2019d need to fight similar pathogens in the future. It\u2019s clear now that that was the best approach. And while Sweden could still experience sporadic outbreaks that might kill another 2 to 300 people, any recurrence of the infection in the Fall or Winter will not be a dreaded \u201cSecond Wave\u201d, but a much weaker flu-like event that will not overwhelm the public health system or kill thousands of people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As we\u2019ve noted before, the media has been particularly vicious in their criticism of Sweden\u2019s approach which they\u2019ve characterized as overly \u201crelaxed.\u201d Check out this sampling of recent headlines:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden becomes an example of how not to handle COVID-19, CBS News<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Lack of Lockdown Increased COVID-19 Deaths in Sweden, U of V Newsroom<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden Has Become the World\u2019s Cautionary Tale, New York Times<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden Stayed Open And More People Died Of Covid-19, But The Real Reason May Be Something Darker, Forbes<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden hoped herd immunity would curb COVID-19. Don\u2019t do what we did. It\u2019s not working. USA Today<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden\u2019s coronavirus death toll is now approaching zero, but experts are warning others not to hail it as a success, Business Insider<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Lack of COVID-19 Lockdown Increased Deaths in Sweden, Analysis Conclude, Virginia edu<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden COVID-19 Deaths Linked to Failure to Lockdown as Country Prepares for Second Wave, Newsweek<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden Tries Out a New Status: Pariah State, New York Times<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As you can see, the media has taken a very hardline with Sweden. But, why? What has Sweden done that has provoked such a hostile response?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Nothing, really, they\u2019ve just shrugged off the repressive stay-at-home orders and pursued their own independent policy. The Swedish approach stands in stark contrast to the lockdowns which are costly, ineffective and socially damaging. Here\u2019s an excerpt from an article at The Evening Standard that underscores these very points:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201c<strong>Lockdowns made little difference to the number of people who have died from coronavirus, a study has claimed<\/strong>. <strong>Researchers from the University of Toronto and University of Texas found that whether a country was locked down or not was \u201cnot associated\u201d with the Covid-19 death rate<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Experts compared mortality rates and cases in 50 badly-hit countries up until May 1 and calculated that only 33 out of every million people had died from the virus\u2026The study found that imposing lockdown measures succeeded in stopping hospitals becoming overwhelmed, but it did not translate into a significant reduction in deaths.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>\u201cGovernment actions such as border closures, full lockdowns, and a high rate of Covid-19 testing were not associated with statistically significant reductions in the number of critical cases or overall mortality,<\/strong>\u201d the study, published in the Lancet online journal EClinicalMedicine, said.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">(<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.standard.co.uk\/news\/uk\/lockdown-deaths-difference-coronavirus-study-a4507216.html\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Coronavirus lockdown \u2018made no difference to number of deaths but stopped hospitals being overwhelmed<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>, <em>Evening Standard<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Bottom line: <strong>Lockdowns don\u2019t work, but the media continues to support them. Why?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Because the media is owned by elites who see lockdowns as an effective way to exert greater control over the population. The real issue is power, not efficacy or saving lives. The Swedish model undermines this effort by providing a viable alternative that challenges lockdowns and leads countries out of crisis. That\u2019s why Sweden has been treated with such open hostility, because elites see crisis management as a useful tool for making the structural changes they want to impose on the political and economic systems. Billionaire oligarchs do not see crises as \u2018periods of intense disorder or distress\u2019, but golden opportunities that can be exploited to their advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Sweden is also criticized for its fatality rate which is higher than some but lower than others. As of today, the number Coronavirus deaths in Sweden is 5,667 which is considerably higher than its neighbors in Norway and Denmark but lower than Belgium, Italy, France, the UK and Spain. In other words, Sweden is somewhere in the middle of the pack. Interestingly, Sweden compares quite well to poorly-governed states in the US with similar-sized populations. Take a look:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>Sweden: No Lockdown<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Population of 10.2 million<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Coronavirus deaths \u20135,667<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>Lockdown State#1: New York City <\/strong>(Democrat Governor, Andrew Cuomo)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Population\u2013 8.3 million<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Coronavirus deaths\u2013 32,133 (5 and a half time more than Sweden with 2 million less people)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>Lockdown State#2: New Jersey <\/strong>(another Democrat governor, Phil Murphy)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Population\u2013 9.2 million (1 million less than Sweden)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Coronavirus deaths\u2013 15,684 (nearly 3 times as many as Sweden with a smaller population.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>Lockdown State#3: Massachusetts<\/strong> (another Democrat Governor, Charlie Baker)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Population\u2013 6.9 million #.3 million less than Sweden)<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Coronavirus deaths\u2013 8,380 (1 and a half times Sweden\u2019s total with 3 million less people.)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">These are the real Coronavirus losers, the three states that are run by liberal governors who imposed counterproductive lockdowns that collapsed their economies, killed tens of thousands of people, and did nothing to staunch the spread of the infection. In contrast, Sweden has weathered the storm nicely, built up the public\u2019s innate immunity and put the economy back on the road to recovery. Take a look:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201cUnlike most European countries, Sweden didn\u2019t impose strict lockdown measures. Now it\u2019s reaping the rewards \u2014 economically speaking, at least. <strong>A report from Capital Economics published on Tuesday found that the Swedish economy was the least harmed in Europe, describing it as the \u201cbest of a bad bunch.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>Though Sweden was not immune to the pandemic\u2019s economic impact, it was the only major economy to grow in the first quarter of the year, the report noted\u2026. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201cThe Swedish economy has weathered Covid well, thanks in part to the government\u2019s light-touch lockdown, and our forecast of a 1.5% drop in GDP this year is well above consensus,\u201d the economists Andrew Kenningham, David Oxley, and Melanie Debono wrote.\u201d (<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/markets.businessinsider.com\/news\/stocks\/sweden-coronavirus-economy-relaxed-lockdown-stronger-rest-of-europe-2020-7-1029415101\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Sweden weathers 2020\u2019s economic storm better than anywhere else<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>, <em>Business Insider)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Readers might want to compare the facts about Sweden\u2019s economy with the spurious claims made by New York Times. Here\u2019s an excerpt from a piece titled \u201cSweden Has Become the World\u2019s Cautionary Tale\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>\u201cNot only have thousands more people died (in Sweden) than in neighboring countries that imposed lockdowns, but Sweden\u2019s economy has fared little better.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>\u201cThey literally gained nothing,\u201d<\/strong> said Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. \u201cIt\u2019s a self-inflicted wound, and they have no economic gains.\u201d\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The elevated death toll resulting from Sweden\u2019s approach has been clear for many weeks. What is only now emerging is how Sweden, <strong>despite letting its economy run unimpeded, has still suffered business-destroying, prosperity-diminishing damage,<\/strong> and at nearly the same magnitude of its neighbors.\u201d\u2026In short, Sweden suffered a vastly higher death rate while failing to collect on the expected economic gains.\u201d (<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/07\/07\/business\/sweden-economy-coronavirus.html\">\u201cSweden Has Become the World\u2019s Cautionary Tale\u201d<\/a>, <em>New York Times<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Huh? So, Sweden \u201cgained nothing\u201d, says the Times? Really??<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As the report from Business Insider confirms, <strong>the Swedish economy \u201cwas the least harmed in Europe\u201d, the \u201cbest of the bunch\u201d (and) \u201cthe only major economy to grow in the first quarter of the year, the report.\u201d<\/strong> Sweden is progressively ramping up its activity while the United States is still stuck in the mud. The Times is deliberately misleading its readers to continue its war on Sweden. That\u2019s not journalism, it\u2019s agenda-driven propaganda.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Did you know that the Swedish infectious disease expert Johan Giesecke warned leaders in the lockdown countries that cases and deaths would rise sharply when the lockdowns were lifted?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">One would assume that our leaders would be smart enough to figure that out before hand and tweak the policy accordingly, but that didn\u2019t happen. So, now, when Fall rolls around and the deaths begin to mount, then what??<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Then the state governors will re-impose the same onerous restrictions that were in place before which will increase unemployment and intensify the deepening economic slump. Meanwhile, Sweden will be in the process of rebooting its economy, putting people back to work, and enjoying the benefits that accrue from independent thinking and strong leadership. This is from an article at Reuters:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201c<strong>Sweden\u2019s top epidemiologist said on Tuesday a rapid decline in new critical COVID-19 cases alongside slowing death rates indicated that Sweden\u2019s strategy for slowing the epidemic\u2026 was working. Chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell of the public health agency said a rapid slowdown in the spread of the virus indicated very strongly that Sweden had reached relatively widespread immunity\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201cIt really is yet another sign that the Swedish strategy is working,\u201d Tegnell said. It is possible to slow contagion fast with the measures we are taking in Sweden.\u201d(<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-health-coronavirus-sweden-strategy\/swedish-epidemiology-boss-says-questioned-covid-19-strategy-seems-to-be-working-idUSKCN24M25L\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Swedish epidemiology boss says questioned COVID-19 strategy seems to be working<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>, <em>Reuters<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Of course \u201cit\u2019s working\u201d. Why wouldn\u2019t it work? Our species has survived thousands of years thanks to our complex and adaptive immunity system that develops protective antibodies and killer T-cells that fight off flues, viruses and all-manner of harmful infectious diseases with or without vaccines. This is the brilliance of Sweden\u2019s strategy, to allow the infection to spread among the country\u2019s healthier, low-risk members until the virus petered-out from lack of any new hosts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">And now the strategy has worked. Common sense has prevailed. This is from Bloomberg News:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201cSweden\u2019s top health authority says people who have had the novel coronavirus are likely to be immune for at least six months after being infected, whether they\u2019ve developed antibodies or not\u2026.A recent study from King\u2019s College London showed that the level of antibodies may drop to a degree that makes them undetectable as soon as three months after infection. However,<strong> the body also mounts other forms of immunity responses, including from so-called T-cells, which appear to play an important role in protecting against reinfection with Covid-19.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>Research from Sweden\u2019s Karolinska Institute has indicated that about twice as many people infected by Covid-19 have developed a T-cell mediated immunity response as those who have a detectable level of antibodies.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><strong>\u201cThe risk of being reinfected and of transmitting the disease to other people is probably very close to zero,\u201d Tegnell said<\/strong>. ..\u201d Sweden \u201cprobably\u201d has achieved a fairly high rate of immunity, which he predicts will protect his country from new outbreaks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">\u201cThe upshot is that the epidemic is now slowing down very drastically, in a way that I think few of us would have thought a few weeks ago,\u201d he said. \u201d(<a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2020-07-21\/sweden-says-covid-immunity-can-last-half-a-year-after-infection\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Sweden Says Covid Immunity Can Last 6 Months After Infection<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a>, <em>Bloomberg<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">What does it all mean?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">It means that probably only 1 in every 7 people will contract the virus regardless of their exposure. <strong>It means that a greater portion of the population have natural immunity than we thought. It means that antibody testing does not tell the whole story but that T-cells and cross-immunity also prevent transmission to otherwise healthy people<\/strong>. It means that Covid-19 is not the Black Plague that\u2019s going to live up to the manipulative hype that has been used to precipitate the biggest social, economic and political crisis of the last century. It means that the idiot lockdowns did not prevent new cases and deaths but merely postponed them to a later date.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">It means that Sweden was on the right track from the very beginning and is rapidly returning to normal while the US sinks deeper into a crisis of its own making.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Bravo, Sweden!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unz.com\/mwhitney\/sweden-the-one-chart-that-matters\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sweden proves that Covid-19 can be contained without resorting to lockdowns, which will deal a crippling long-term blow to the economy <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coronavirus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=211010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211014,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211010\/revisions\/211014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=211010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=211010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=211010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}