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.

NZ has an acknowledged alcohol problem, per links.

I still don't believe it to be any worse than anywhere else in the world, despite your "links"

Vit D difficult to get May to September, per link. There would be further difficulty in event of lockdown.

I live in the middle of the South Island, and I reiterate I have NEVER heard of anyone with a Vit D deficiency. We do still go outside in winter, and there is still plenty of sunshine. We are, by and large, an outdoorsy sort of country. Also, all the people who work in factories, offices, shops etc - how are they getting less sun exposure under lockdown?

Your argument seems to be based on us being in lockdown in winter - we are only in the second month of autumn and I repeat, there is a lot of sunshine.

As to my going out - I used to go for one long walk a day, which I am still doing. Otherwise I am sitting outside or am in the garden - as are many other NZers at present - and for your information I live in a flat!! If you live in NZ you, as I said, obviously live in a very different place to where I do. My nearest city has far more citizens with gardens than are living in apartments without them.

You seem to have some sort of agenda where you wish to portray life in NZ under lockdown as a very dismal affair indeed, whereas most of the people I know are just getting on with it and in fact a recent survey produced the result that the majority are in favour of it continuing for longer.

The death rate in Sweden is very high compared to countries with similar numbers of cases. I don't think they're doing a great job of sheilding.

And they always report very low numbers at weekends, and it won’t be until next week that we see the true figures. It will be an absolutely critical week ahead for Sweden... If they can contain deaths to below, say, 150 per day, by the end of the week, their strategy would arguably be working... Yes, there’s a cost, but deaths would
be being kept within the losses that had been experienced per capita of Italy, Spain and the U.K. but without a lockdown being necessary. If deaths climb to 200 per day or more, Sweden’s strategy will be unsustainable... It will lock down but it’s losses will rise further as measures will take weeks to have an impact. The Government would be in grave peril.

Here isn’t Swindon or Sweden! Though now I’m a bit torn. Sweden has lakes and forests and I believe Swindon has a magic roundabout.

Sweden

Vit D difficult to get May to September, per link. There would be further difficulty in event of lockdown.

This is what the link actually says.
If you live in the South Island (especially south of Nelson-Marlborough) and get little time outdoors in the middle of the day between May and August, you may be at risk of vitamin D deficiency in spring.

There is a world of difference between "if you get little time outdoors you may be at risk of a deficiency" and "Vit D difficult to get"

I happen to live in the area they are talking about by the way. Please don't bother to respond because I am over your "I know better than you" attitude when you really don't have a clue! I'm now off to find that alcohol we obviously all have a stash of - oh wait, I will have to wait until the supermarket opens, and even then will only be able to get beer or wine!

The pictures I'm seeing of Sweden this weekend will mean if it doesn't spike next week, it certainly will in 2 or 3 weeks time. People from the infected cities, Stockholm and Goteborg, appear to have ignored warning to stay home this Easter and have instead fucked off on their holidays as usual. The beautiful harbour near us is packed with pensioners in their camper vans.

born “Sweden has lakes and forests and I believe Swindon has a magic roundabout.”

Ah, that’s a dilemma. I’m going to guess the Magic Roundabout is closed, so Sweden again 😂

The Swedish pm did not say the countries measures weren't good enough.
He did say the readiness to address this pandemic was inadequate - relating to the stockpiles of protective equipment and alcohol hand cleanser. This is as a direct result of "just-in-time" ordering procedures for the whole of the care services and may well be addressed as the crisis lifts.
If you are going to translate, get it right

Attached snippet just shows there’s hundreds of scientists working on this across Europe. It has been successful in Germany.

But let’s just not bother as all countries are different eh. Since lockdown is working so well.....

Ooh wrong thread. No idea how!

Thank you Philip

I couldn’t find that at all, just a one liner about how preparedness goes back a long way.

I would rather be in Sweden at the moment. I spoke to a friend there, admissions to hospital are decreasing and their new, massive hospital conversion is still empty. They have massive capacity to admit more patients to ICU.

They also are not doing nothing. Allegedly commuting into Stockholm is down almost 90%, everyone who can work from home is working from home. In addition, guidance is staying home for any illness (cough, sneezing, runny nose), so any Covid symptoms we are now starting to suspect (lack of smell, head ache, sore throat etc) was a stay at home condition weeks ago.

I think that Stockholm (major hotspot) also has a comparatively young population with many people living alone and all now social distancing. Swedish people normally keep quite a physical distance as well, so it is likely to hit less hard due to this.... Swedish people are also very good at following advice and guidelines, so legislation is less necessary. I guess what I am trying to say is that it sounds crazy what Sweden is doing, but due to population specific and cultural factors, it is less crazy than it seem. I do like the thought of all that extra hospital capacity as well.

That sounds not dissimilar to how my brother described Japan a month or so ago.

I’m so glad for this thread

Saying “Sweden” is like a red rag to a bull in most cases.

I would rather be here in the Uk.

Sweden currently has 5 air ambulances in the air, on FlightRadar24. We have 0, France has 1, Switzerland has 1. I think that Sweden might catch up very soon.

Does Sweden use air ambulances more generally?

What makes you think number of ambulances in the air equates to level of coronavirus outbreak? Sweden is vast and air ambulances are used for this reason too. My nearest hospital is an hour and half away, their air ambulance is always on the go.

Does Sweden use air ambulances more generally?

Yes we do. Lots of the population live hours away from their nearest medical facility.

It’s to do with geography

Yes of course different countries have different amounts of air ambulance usage. But it seemed like a high number for one moment in time. The USA also has an extremely high number in the air at the moment, and I'd have to guess that Covid plays a huge role in that. Air ambulances are so very expensive to use so seeing so many in different (rich) countries right now, makes me think of Covid.

I’d rather be here, but that’s because I’m high risk.

My boyfriend is Swedish and his cousins report that Stockholm is very quiet and it’s rare to see anyone on public transport, even during rush hour as many businesses have encouraged staff to work from home.

His parents have been in their summer cabin for around five weeks now, the have said very few people are in the cabins ‘near’ them.

Is it possible to travel to Sweden?

They might. Or they might not.

Sweden is really sparsely populated in some areas. Any serious incident (like stroke) in some areas will automatically require an air ambulance as the small local hospitals don’t have the capability to deal with any serious incidents. But it could of course be corona related.