Hopefully, the not-too-distant future will judge which of the national responses to covid19 were the most effective. My money is on the Swedish one.
They might currently have a relatively high mortality rate, but for them the Covid crisis is pretty much over. As the author says, “Sweden ripped the band aid off quickly”
Whilst most governments seem to be pursuing policies intent on “flattening curves” and avoiding “second spikes”, they seem to be avoiding (or ignorant of?) the critical mathematical fact that it’s the area under the curve that ultimately matters. And unless we discover a vaccine or live in quarantine indefinitely none of the lockdown measures change that metric.
I am willing to bet that the countries that have shut down completely will see rates spike when they open up. If that is the case, then there won’t have been any point in shutting down in the first place, because all those countries are going to end up with the same number of dead at the end of the day anyway. Shutting down completely in order to decrease the total number of deaths only makes sense if you are willing to stay shut down until a vaccine is available.
Sebastian Rushworth, M.D.
As I expressed right at the start of this pandemic – there really is nothing to fear except fear itself.
https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/08/04/how-bad-is-covid-really-a-swedish-doctors-perspective/
