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.

I would like to be in Germany now.

Shield the vulnerable until best treatment is known (if not a vaccine) and allow the young to catch the virus

Being vulnerable and being young aren’t mutually exclusive. Young people can have diabetes, asthma and any number of underlying health conditions. Not to mention the fact that it can kill young people with no underlying health conditions too.

What worries me is that so much about the virus is unknown eg why around 20% of people have a severe second stage reaction.

I wonder what New Zealand will do long term though? Not allow anyone in and stay in lockdown?

I’m at the stage now I want the vulnerable and elderly shielded and then I want to get on with my life and take the risk. I know some younger healthier people are dying but that is the case with most diseases and the odds are in our favour.

It’s anecdotal but I’ve had quite a few friends who think they have had this (not tested but had symptoms). They are all through the other side. I don’t want to stay locked away and in fear.

Are Sweden not just doing the same as we were before we realised it wouldn't work?

I think NZ must be trying to stamp it out then isolate in comers. Not sure if it’s doable though.

I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else
I trust those in charge are doing their absolute best in every front
I trust the NHS

And I just love living where I live, in England.

I would like to be in Germany now

Just so long as you would not mind paying around 50% of your gross income on tax, NI and health care contributions.

"I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else
I trust those in charge are doing their absolute best in every front
I trust the NHS"

Now I've heard it all.

You trust Boris "I shake hands with coronavirus patients oops now I have coronavirus" Johnson?

Fuck me.

"Just so long as you would not mind paying around 50% of your gross income on tax, NI and health care contributions."

I'd be fine with that since their system actually works.

I am in the Netherlands. We aren't in a strict lockdown - we can go about daily business but are asked to obey Social Distancing rules and work from home when possible. Restaurants, cafes are closed and can do take away only. Schools and daycare centers are closed. Public transport is reduced. It's been over a month for us and cases are flattening.

I like that noone is lying to us. People will die and it is inevitable. We have to be prepared for that. The virus must run its course through the population and we cannot be in the lockdown forever.

This is a new reality, the virus is not going anywhere and we must learn how to live with it in our population. The aim of the lockdown is not to get rid of the virus but not to overload the system.

Nobody is spying on the neighbours and I just roll my eyes when I see the competitive heroism on my friends' FB threads 'I only go out shopping once a week and it's only because I have to get supplies to my elderly, vulnerable mum and I survive the whole month on milk, eggs and bread as these are the essentials.'

We, on the other hand, are asked to be reasonable: stay in as much as possible but if you want fresh air go out, just don' t do it in groups. Don't go to the shops everyday but if you need to buy anything, just go and don't fret. I guess it is a cultural difference between the two countries.

I much more prefer living in the UK but at the moment I am very happy I am in the NL.

I'd rather be here, and I say that as someone who has been ill with Covid-19 symptoms for over 3 weeks now. The Swedes are indeed trying to carry on as we were. I have concerns about my uncle (72, smoker) who is about to get a flight out of NZ back home to Sweden. I think he'd be better off staying where he is!

In Germany you can actually meet friends for a walk, if you keep your distance

“I like that noone is lying to us. People will die and it is inevitable. We have to be prepared for that. The virus must run its course through the population and we cannot be in the lockdown forever.

This is a new reality, the virus is not going anywhere and we must learn how to live with it in our population. The aim of the lockdown is not to get rid of the virus but not to overload the system.“

Our politicians have a lot to learn.

Re Sweden and tax, do lower earners pay that much?

my dm, 84, getting really fed up with the lockdown, she is a sociable person and is struggling. and has no internet

Deaths are being recorded differently, but if total deaths were compared with the same period of other years it might give some indication?

Erica, yes my DM is 82, only just got past widowhood and now can’t see her daughters or her friends. She was waiting to die anyway. Bloody ridiculous this lockdown.

I’m not asking them to keep pubs open but perhaps Big Brother might grant the right to visit family?

The total deaths cf other years will undoubtedly be used for future analysis. But there are threads with people saying that Covid in the UK isn't a big deal because deaths in March 20 are fewer than March 19.
Which given the situation is like saying bread is different to cheese. The UK was largely unaffected by Covid until the last week of March, and this year's normal flu has been light.

The Netherlands' death rate % of those infected is pretty high on the list iirc.

Rather be here cos I don't speak Swedish and am not entitled to free health care there

Well joy, neither do I but I would learn fast for their freedom!

@LilacTree1 I think that seems fair. I think its unnecessarily cruel to isolate elderly and vulnerable people further. I’d lift the famijt ban and keep the rest now. Then schools snd back to work.

@diddl that's what they are doing in the Netherlands, there is an independent agency recording deaths every year and they just released the data that shows the increase in the deaths as compared to the same period last year is very close to Government's numbers about COVID-19 deaths. So the numbers (at least here) seem to be more or less trustworthy.

@thecanterburytales that's because the Netherlands test only Healthcare workers and people sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. Everyone else is told to stay at home until they get better. So the percentage of deaths is high in statistics because people with mild symptoms are not being tested. I think we also have a high percentage of deaths per million inhabitants but that is not surprising in the most densely populated country tbh.

I don't know. Inclined to say UK but time and hindsight will tell if Sweden is making the right move or making a cataclysmic mistake.

Tbh, atm, I'm feeling quite glad to be in N. Ireland even though it's hardly idyllic either. I would feel much happier with more testing and tracing.

Lonely- right. That's interesting, thank you.

My nephew works in an A&E department and said he will forever be traumatised by some of the things he has witnessed by those very ill with the virus. That is incentive enough for me to adhere to this lockdown for as long as necessary.