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.

Just checked, it's called Daily numbers, graphs & analysis thread 4.

Here. But not because our Government are handling it well, just that Sweden seems to be making a serious mistake.
www.forbes.com/sites/gabrielleigh/2020/04/10/sweden-continues-with-controversial-coronavirus-strategy-is-it-a-big-mistake/#1e7cbbc228a2

No one knows. That's the problem. But realistically countries can't stay in lockdown until a vaccine has been developed. And those that have locked down, what happens if immunity is only three months? It means a massive rise again. There is no easy answer. Nor do I believe the figures coming out of certain countries. It's all a bit shit really.

I'm rather be in Barbados

The John Hopkins chart linked by pp is total cases, and shows UK 5th.
The figures I referred to are % of confirmed cases who die. The UK has the second highest death rate and is only a few points behind Italy. Table attached.

But yes, for anyone interested in numbers and figures, the graphs thread is a haven of fact in a storm of speculation.

When all this is over, the numbers will be crunched, lessons will be learnt etc etc

And with hindsight, a case of “We could have done that better”

If the number of deaths in Sweden rocket, then what are they going to do?

They have made, what they feel is best for them, until this is all over, the jury is still out. 😳

Sweden.

We will pay for the indirect health and economic costs of Covid19 in years to come. I suspect the 'cure' (the restrictions adopted in most western countries with no exit strategy) is going to be much worse than the disease in he long run.

Always fancied Sweden, and quite admire them for taking their own approach to this instead of just following the strategy of the countries that went before.

If this truly is an organic virus in an unprecedented modern pandemic then how does ANY country know how to deal with it most effectively? Most of the world is just following China’s example, like lemmings.

However that said I’m actually quite happy in Scotland. Hospitals are still coping and everything feels calm and ordered, the numbers seem to be flattening here too.

If enough people get ill or need to isolate due to symptoms then their economy still may be badly affected, plus have the virus rampaging through them?

It's obviously impossible to keep everyone safe & the economy going though.

Thanks for the data chart @thecanterburywhales. You're right that so much is based on speculation, although I must say the only thing that last column tells me is that the death rate is definitely being reported differently in different countries. One thing the WHO could do in my opinion is to set very very clear guidelines on how to report numbers with examples. E.g. if someone dies of a heart attack and has C-19, etc.

@hazelnutlatteplease. Early lockdown does not mean no virus. ..

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/08/singapore-coronavirus-increase-revives-fears-of-post-lockdown-surge

Honestly I'd rather be in Sweden, I'm more concerned about the economic impact and wellbeing of the majority than I am the virus, particularly for my children. So it'll be fascinating to see how we compare not just in the short term, but long term.

Sweden.

I think the indirect costs of destroying the economy, businesses going under, unemployment, poverty, years of austerity to pay back the debt etc. will have way worse knock on effects on health than a few tens of thousands COVID deaths out of a population of 66 million. And it’s not like we’ve got a way to avoid everyone getting it anyway... I understand the NHS overload arguments but from what I’ve heard from people working in Nightingale and the new big Bristol hospital they’re basically empty and on standby so I’m not convinced a full lockdown was right - maybe we could have just done London, for example, and had a much lower economic impact. We also should have quarantined all incoming travellers much much earlier.

On the other hand the swedes are highly responsible and mostly live alone so I do recognise it’s a different set of circumstances.

For those mentioning the daily death rate v Spain and Italy, please remember the UK’s population is bigger so a larger number of deaths in a day is to be expected unfortunately.

@Hazelnutlatteplease cases are rising in Singapore, I am not so sure they have it under control.

As pp said, Iceland.

I'd rather not be in the UK or Sweden. I am in the UK, unfortunately, in a regional hotspot.

I'd rather be in Sweden.

@notalwaysalondoner you can't just lock down London.

Lots of people have second homes and family/friends that live outside. We would have just turned out like Italy when everyone went back to their families in the South when they locked down one region.

But surely nobody knows what the eventual death toll will be and whether it makes any difference.
Unless I am being thick, the purpose of the lockdown is to enable the health resources meet the demand, by flattening the curve and through buying time for ventilators/hospitals to be built. As long as there are sufficient resources in place to meet the need it would just mean that that Swedish deaths are sooner rather than later.

I'm stuck on the poster who says Vancouver Island is the same size as England.....

Which Vancouver Island and which England would that be? Onesailwait

@middleager New Zealand's climate is nicer. Plus you don't have to put up with no night in summer.

@LoveIsLovely i cant find whether they are quarentined incoming cases or community transmissions.

Its if their incoming quarentined cases my resposnse stands. Otherwise ill take China then, principles still the same.

or Greenland simply because they're impossible to infect in plague inc

Sweden.

Italy went into lockdown when they hit 2,000 cases a day. One month of locking everyone indoors and they now have 4,000 cases a day. Nobody knows how this virus is passed on, I read the German press everyday for work and it is something they are investigating extensively.

The best case for everyone would be that the swedes are proved right in their approach because then we can all follow it. I am rooting for them.

If cases and deaths continue to rise unabated in Sweden, they will likely lock down at some point.

I think people are far too inclined to base their judgment on the figures in the here and now. This has been apparent throughout the CV crisis.

In early March someone posted whether they should still go to Rome mid-month.... Many of the responses were “CV is only in Northern Italy, it’ll be fine”, with no appreciation that it was a fast developing situation.... Clearly the poster never got to go to Rome.

It’s the same here with Sweden... People don’t seem to be able to see beyond their own nose.... they see how it’s operating relatively normally and it’s death rates are relatively low and seem to think that it will necessarily stay that way. It very probably won’t!

I wouldn't want the UK or Sweden
Happy here in Australia. The government were not as quick off the mark as I would have liked. Glad to say though that they seem to have a good handle on it now.

Ruby Princess aside, it's been quite well managed.