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I find I'm saying this more and more on HN these days - you're being downvoted but you're right. Living in Czech Republic, Sweden has been my benchmark since th

by smcl 7y ago

I find I'm saying this more and more on HN these days - you're being downvoted but you're right. Living in Czech Republic, Sweden has been my benchmark since the population is nearly identical[0] and the responses have been markedly different - Sweden: open, Czech: closed. Sweden has more than twice the number of confirmed cases Czech Republic has (~14700 vs ~6900). This is a hard thing to compare, this could be attributed to differences in testing, doesn't include asymptomatic cases and some suggest there's a bit of clever accounting going on so let's look at something else ... Sweden currently has eight times the number of deaths the Czech Republic has (1580 vs 196). This is an absolutely incredible incredible difference! The Anglosphere has for a while had a really unhealthy obsession with the Nordic countries, Sweden in particular (I have my own theories on why). When it was apparent they were pursuing a more relaxed approach to Covid 19 many in the media and the public seemed desperate to latch on to them as How it Should Be Done. However it seems that in this case they should really have looked East for inspiration, rather than North. [0] = https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=population+of+sweden+vs+czechia https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=population+of+sweden+v... ... and in fact given how large it is and how distant it is from other early hotspots, the Sweden/Czech comparison should be an unfair comparison in Sweden's favour.

Kiro 7y ago
The question is what will happen once you ease your restrictions. Nothing is comparable right now. Not sure why you say the media was praising Sweden's approach. I only saw international media completely bashing Sweden's strategy but that has changed the last week now when the death rate curve is declining in Sweden and we still have ICU capacity.
- smcl 7y ago
  The UK media was flooded with articles fawning over Sweden’s approach - they loved the idea that you could be open for business but closed for viral transmissions. Which sadly doesn’t seem to be the case and accordingly they’ve reversed course, and observed the decline you have described. Update: here is an example of the sort of article I mean. At that moment everyone was running with this idea, not just the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200328-how-to-self-isolate-what-we-can-learn-from-sweden https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200328-how-to-self-is... I don’t quite understand the first part of your comment - when to relax restrictions is a problem everyone will have and is not unique to Czech Republic. Granted, the huge success of the measures here might make the decision a little harder ... but the fact that we have prevented thousands of deaths is a GOOD thing and shouldn’t be taken as a negative.

by smcl 7y ago

Kiro 7y ago

The question is what will happen once you ease your restrictions. Nothing is comparable right now. Not sure why you say the media was praising Sweden's approach. I only saw international media completely bashing Sweden's strategy but that has changed the last week now when the death rate curve is declining in Sweden and we still have ICU capacity.

smcl 7y ago
The UK media was flooded with articles fawning over Sweden’s approach - they loved the idea that you could be open for business but closed for viral transmissions. Which sadly doesn’t seem to be the case and accordingly they’ve reversed course, and observed the decline you have described. Update: here is an example of the sort of article I mean. At that moment everyone was running with this idea, not just the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200328-how-to-self-isolate-what-we-can-learn-from-sweden https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200328-how-to-self-is... I don’t quite understand the first part of your comment - when to relax restrictions is a problem everyone will have and is not unique to Czech Republic. Granted, the huge success of the measures here might make the decision a little harder ... but the fact that we have prevented thousands of deaths is a GOOD thing and shouldn’t be taken as a negative.