Reports of Sweden's deaths highly exaggerated: As the governments of Europe began reimposing lockdowns this week, the pro-lockdown media have been reminding us what happens to bad governments that fail to shut down their societies; the favorite cautionary tale, as always, being that of Sweden. "The Swedish COVID-19 Response Is a Disaster," Time magazine headlined October 14. On October 19, CBC Radio's "As It Happens" news show featured a "Swedish virologist [who] says her country's COVID-19 strategy has failed, but nobody will admit it." "As White House eyes 'herd immunity,' Sweden's no-mask approach is failing to contain COVID-19," Yahoo News chimed in on October 20, the same day a Washington Post headline reminded us that Sweden may have saved its economy, "But too many people have died."
The story those sources tell is grim. "Sweden and the U.S.," Time declares, "are the only countries with high overall mortality rates that failed to rapidly reduce those numbers as the pandemic progressed." The Post warns that "deaths fell to low levels in August and early September but are now rising again." CBC tells us the Swedish health authority has been forced by the death toll to abandon its voluntary approach, and now "allows regions to institute local lockdowns 8 months into the pandemic" (although the story actually clarifies that these new local measures are not lockdowns: "there will be no legal or financial consequences for non-compliance)." Yahoo News quotes a "vocal group of Swedish health and science researchers and professionals, calling itself Vetenskapsforum (Science Forum) COVID-19," as claiming: "Sweden is actually today among the highest countries in the world when it comes to deaths per capita from COVID-19." Scary claims indeed; but do the numbers back them up?
