Would you rather be here or in Sweden?

[Forgetaboutme]

There's been a lot of talk about the way Sweden are handling the coronavirus situation. Schools still open, bars n clubs plus shops still open. The vulnerable being shielded and the rest social distancing or working from home where possible.

Would you rather be here on lockdown? Or in Sweden?

Do you feel safer on lockdown or if you lived somewhere like Sweden would you have been happy to live how they are at the moment?

Just bored here and wondering what people thought.

[TipseyTorvey]

I will watch with interest but I think they've made a mistake. People are dying in the thousands. There is no treatment, no vaccine. Maybe the herd idea could work if you don't care about old people, sick people etc.

[Dreamcatcher34]

Rather be here. I would be feeling very vulnerable over there right now.

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

I think Sweden has it right. If you are vulnerable stay in. If you aren’t; crack on and don’t let the economy go down the swanny. I’m convinced the fall out from this virus will kill many, many more in the long term from indirect effects

[foamrolling]

Impossible to say at this point. It's going to be very interesting looking back on all this and seeing the results of different countries handling of the situation.

[Aderyn19]

Tbh, I want to be in New Zealand!
Sweden might be better than here, even though I think they've cocked up, as they probably have better health care and the Swedes are very socially responsible.

[LastTrainEast]

I'd rather be here. I think it's a huge gamble. Do they have ICU beds for a large part of their population? I somehow doubt it.

[TheCanterburyWhales]

Sweden's cases are rising. The UK has the second highest % death rate in the world at the moment.
Neither country is coming out of this looking like they knew what they were doing tbf.

[EmMac7]

Things are spiralling in Sweden now, I wouldn’t be holding them up as somewhere to emulate:

^In only three days, the total fatalities in Sweden due to the current epidemic rose from 477 to 881. While the problem started roughly about the same time in all the Scandinavian countries, Sweden’s stats are among the worst.

Sweden has not only the highest rate of fatalities per capita, but also the total death toll is higher than that of all the other Nordic countries put together. As of April 10, Sweden has 86 Covid-19 fatalities per one million of population, while Finland has nine, Norway 20, and Denmark 43. (The US has 47, and Russia 0.5 Covid-19 fatalities per one million, respectively).^

www.rt.com/op-ed/485522-sweden-coronavirus-worst-death-count/

[Wauden]

Probably here.

[LittleLittleLittle]

I would rather be in New Zealand.

I definitely wouldn't want to be in Sweden unless I lived very rurally as Sweden has the highest number of cases and death rate out of the Nordic countries.

[LittleLittleLittle]

@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow the nurses that died weren't vulnerable.

[ilikemethewayiam]

i love Sweden and it’s people. It’s one of my favourite countries in the world but I’ve seen videos and photos of them all crowded into bars and cafes. They are not keeping 6ft apart. Unless they know something we don’t, I just can’t see how all hell isn’t going to break lose! I sincerely hope for their sake it doesn’t. It will break my heart. Good luck to any Swedes on here. I hope it works out for you.

[MashedPotatoBrainz]

I feel very vulnerable in Sweden just now but I think I'd feel even more vulnerable in the UK, even in lockdown. This is purely down to the impact of population density. I live in a small town in Sweden and have never seen the supermarket with more than 10 or 20 people in it, even at Christmas, so social distancing takes no effort.

But many people here are a bit oblivious. I've been out for a very short walk around my block every day this week and I've only seen other humans once. This happened to be a group of teens from the school with their teachers, who came up quickly behind me and completely surrounded me, very closely, as they passed. Freaked me out completely. They paid absolutely no heed to the 2 m rule.

[Eyewhisker]

Sweden. The absolute Swedish death rate is still pretty low and they are shielding the elderly. They are not turning into a nation of Stasi, wanting to report on their neighbours like multiple people on here.

Nor are they bankrupting their children’s future. The Telegraph today reported that three times more employees have been furloughed than the government budgeted for. The lockdown here is simply unsustainable and we have no plan to what to do next. And no, waiting for a vaccine is not a plan.

[MashedPotatoBrainz]

I don't think we are shielding the elderly. The ban on visiting care homes was only announced a few days ago and the very next day a report came out showing that a third of care homes were already infected. The horse had already bolted.

Some municipalities and care homes brought in a ban themselves way before the official one came about.

[Lifeisabeach09]

Here.
Sweden is following the same path the UK did before we implemented lock down. Their death toll will increase a lot as the virus spreads.

The UK has the second highest % death rate in the world at the moment.

Not according to Johns Hopkins Uni---the UK is fourth.
coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

[Onesailwait]

I'd rather be where i am now with restrictions lifted a little. I'm on Vancouver Island we have 82 cases total (same size as England). I'd like to go back to work, kids back to school. protect the vulnerable but let the rest of us go back to our lives.

[Lifeisabeach09]

*UK is fifth.

[Chris5690]

I'd be terrified to be in Sweden right now - they are headed for a big epidemic killing tens of thousands. Wuhan did nothing at the start and had people dying on the streets by the end - are you saying China should have acted even later to emulate Sweden?

I think the uk response has been very poor and very late. Time will tell how badly we fare compared to other european countries like denmark and germany.

[Chris5690]

Did not know the uk had the 4th highest death rate in the world - that's shocking with the head start we had

[eaglejulesk]

I am in New Zealand, and feel reasonably safe at the moment. I definitely wouldn't feel safe in Sweden!

[Polly02]

I'm not sure of the exact details of what NZ are doing. Is it that they have locked down before cases escalate?

If so, what happens when they open up again? The virus will still be around and wanting to spread.

Perhaps Sweden will just get the whole thing out of it's system in one go ...

I reckon History may look back on this and see that regardless of differing strategies - all countries were affected to the same degree in the end.

[LilacTree1]

Sweden, definitely, for all the reasons given by Eyewhisker.

This waiting for a vaccine idea is insane.

[eaglejulesk]

I'm not sure of the exact details of what NZ are doing. Is it that they have locked down before cases escalate?

Yes, but we also have a stricter lockdown than the UK. We also closed the borders early to everyone other than a citizen or permanent resident. Anyone coming here for the past 3 weeks has been required to self-isolate for 14 days, and this has just been changed to going into quarantine (there are still a few returning NZers). Our cases are going down.

If so, what happens when they open up again? The virus will still be around and wanting to spread.

I don't suppose we will know this until later, but I'm sure there will still be restrictions of some sort for quite some time.

[CendrillonSings]

Did not know the uk had the 4th highest death rate in the world - that's shocking with the head start we had

That’s because it’s not true. We’re 6th in deaths per capita, after:

Spain
Italy
Belgium
France
The Netherlands