Stats: Sweden Said No to COVID Lockdowns - And Suffered Much Less Than Most European Countries
All hail the land of meatballs! While much of the rest of the world has suffered turmoil due to lockdowns implemented in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden proved going against the grain is an effective strategy.
The country had minimal restrictions in place from the start of the pandemic, refusing a national shutdown, and it has fared well for them.
According to Our World in Data, Sweden’s COVID death count per million people is around 1,500 compared to the European average of about 1,800.
At the top of the chart are Belgium and Italy. The two counties reported numbers of approximately 2,300 and 2,200 deaths per million, respectively. While having undergone three lockdowns, the United Kingdom came in third, recording closer to 2,100 deaths per million.
However, a statistic weighed on more heavily by researchers in considering the virus’ toll is excess mortality.
Excess mortality is the additional number of deaths from all causes in a country compared to years prior to the pandemic, as displayed in the chart below.
As of Oct. 24, Sweden’s reports floated a 5 percent increase in deaths. Meanwhile, countries like Spain and Italy, which have implemented more strict lockdown measures, showed an increase of over 12 percent. In the thick of the COVID pandemic in March 2020, Spain saw an increase of over 25 percent.
While the data does not directly link the coronavirus to the increase in deaths, other means such as suicide and lack of medical treatment for existing or undiagnosed conditions may also explain the surge.
With questions raised regarding the effectiveness of lockdowns, prominent conservative figures like Dennis Prager have used their platforms to highlight apparent inconsistencies in the “science” and further discuss the negative impacts of mass shutdowns.
During an April 2020 episode of The Dennis Prager Show, Prager referred to Sweden’s strategy as a “mature” decision and stated the world should have followed its example.
According to The New York Times, Former President Donald Trump, in March of last year, said, “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.” For many European countries, however, that has been the case.
Massive protests have taken place in Greece, Italy and France, where vaccine mandates have been more strictly implemented through the use of a vaccine passport. The United States has seen similar measures implemented in several states, including New York and California.
With COVID-19 deaths per million in France and Greece comparable to Sweden’s numbers, the strict implementation of mandates and use of vaccine passports in the former nations appear to have made little difference.
The protest in Paris, France against the Macron government domestic vaccine pass is massive. pic.twitter.com/K20R1GMRCN
— Marie Oakes (@TheMarieOakes) July 24, 2021
Protests continue across the globe as vaccine passports, which are becoming more prevalent, verge on banning unvaccinated citizens from performing everyday tasks.
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