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Is there a pronounced difference between coronavirus cases in Sweden vs neighboring countries? On a per population basis I'm seeing very similar numbers (links

by epr 6y ago

Is there a pronounced difference between coronavirus cases in Sweden vs neighboring countries? On a per population basis I'm seeing very similar numbers (links below). Anecdotal evidence is one thing, but these charts don't seem to tell that story. That being said, it's unclear to me the degree to which coronavirus statistics provided by different countries can be compared meaningfully, or if this is an apples and oranges situation (for any number of reasons). https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/norway/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/norway/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/finland/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/finland/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/denmark/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/denmark/ Population numbers: Sweden: 10.2 million Norway: 5.4 million Finland: 5.5 million Denmark: 5.8 million

joshuahedlund 6y ago
Cases are an unreliable metric because Sweden has done less testing per capita than Norway/Finland/Denmark. However, its deaths per capita is notably higher (and rising - from 14th global rank to 10th in the last couple weeks) Sweden: 192 per million Denmark: 66 per million Norway: 34 per million Finland: 27 per million
- epr 6y ago
  That does not look good for Sweden. I was just thinking that it would be interesting to compare total deaths per year for 2020 at years end to eliminate differences in methodology. It's a crude measurement, but if the coronavirus death toll becomes large enough compared to total population then it should give us a general idea considering how slowly death rates change in general. That could at least point us to who did things right, and hopefully some guidance for future policy.
  - epr 6y ago
    Hold that thought. They probably have deaths by week already.
    - henrikschroder 6y ago
      https://euromomo.eu/ https://euromomo.eu/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronav...
  - llarsson 6y ago
    Only if COVID-related deaths are counted the same way by each and every country, which is not the case now. Some only count if the person died in a hospital, for instance. Did not New York's rate take a major jump when they started to count also non-hospital deaths, e.g. ones at retirement homes?
- odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
  I have been following Sweden vs my country (Portugal) for a while. Population number is about the same. According to official data, Sweden has double the deaths of COVID per capita than Portugal (192 v 72 or something like that last time I checked). But latest data from my country has been suspicious since there has been a LOT of deaths above the average for March/April that aren't counted as COVID. I think at the time Portugal had 400 deaths of COVID, it had around 700 extra deaths about the average that weren't counted as anything. NY times[1] and other studies have shown a big difference between average deaths in various countries and covid ones. Interestingly enough, Sweden is the one where the average extra deaths are all covid related, while most other countries have a big difference. (sorry for bad english, just woke up) *edit: Just re-read the article and they added Belgium to the list. Belgium has the more deaths per capita in europe (world?), and they are also along with Sweden the only ones that don't have 'missing' deaths. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronav...
0xfffafaCrash 6y ago
Low official case numbers in Sweden are meaningless. They made a strategic decision not to track untested cases which would be presumed COVID-19 cases in most countries and they perform an almost negligible number of tests in Sweden which are officially restricted to be used for certain specific at-risk demographics. The number of deaths per capita will give a clearer picture of the underlying situation comparing against the rest of Scandinavia, but that of course lags behind the number of cases by a few weeks.
- zajio1am 6y ago
  > they perform an almost negligible number of tests in Sweden According to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ , they have about 9k tests per 1M pop, which is lower (half of Denmark or 3/4 of Finland, but higher than France or UK), but definitely not negligible.

by epr 6y ago

joshuahedlund 6y ago

Cases are an unreliable metric because Sweden has done less testing per capita than Norway/Finland/Denmark. However, its deaths per capita is notably higher (and rising - from 14th global rank to 10th in the last couple weeks) Sweden: 192 per million Denmark: 66 per million Norway: 34 per million Finland: 27 per million

epr 6y ago
That does not look good for Sweden. I was just thinking that it would be interesting to compare total deaths per year for 2020 at years end to eliminate differences in methodology. It's a crude measurement, but if the coronavirus death toll becomes large enough compared to total population then it should give us a general idea considering how slowly death rates change in general. That could at least point us to who did things right, and hopefully some guidance for future policy.
- epr 6y ago
  Hold that thought. They probably have deaths by week already.
  - henrikschroder 6y ago
    https://euromomo.eu/ https://euromomo.eu/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronav...
- llarsson 6y ago
  Only if COVID-related deaths are counted the same way by each and every country, which is not the case now. Some only count if the person died in a hospital, for instance. Did not New York's rate take a major jump when they started to count also non-hospital deaths, e.g. ones at retirement homes?
odshoifsdhfs 6y ago
I have been following Sweden vs my country (Portugal) for a while. Population number is about the same. According to official data, Sweden has double the deaths of COVID per capita than Portugal (192 v 72 or something like that last time I checked). But latest data from my country has been suspicious since there has been a LOT of deaths above the average for March/April that aren't counted as COVID. I think at the time Portugal had 400 deaths of COVID, it had around 700 extra deaths about the average that weren't counted as anything. NY times[1] and other studies have shown a big difference between average deaths in various countries and covid ones. Interestingly enough, Sweden is the one where the average extra deaths are all covid related, while most other countries have a big difference. (sorry for bad english, just woke up) *edit: Just re-read the article and they added Belgium to the list. Belgium has the more deaths per capita in europe (world?), and they are also along with Sweden the only ones that don't have 'missing' deaths. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronavirus-missing-deaths.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/21/world/coronav...

0xfffafaCrash 6y ago

Low official case numbers in Sweden are meaningless. They made a strategic decision not to track untested cases which would be presumed COVID-19 cases in most countries and they perform an almost negligible number of tests in Sweden which are officially restricted to be used for certain specific at-risk demographics. The number of deaths per capita will give a clearer picture of the underlying situation comparing against the rest of Scandinavia, but that of course lags behind the number of cases by a few weeks.

zajio1am 6y ago
> they perform an almost negligible number of tests in Sweden According to https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ , they have about 9k tests per 1M pop, which is lower (half of Denmark or 3/4 of Finland, but higher than France or UK), but definitely not negligible.