3 ms·
An order of magnitude usually means 10x, ie 140 vs 14. According to your article, Sweden has had a lower death rate than the UK, Spain, or Italy.
by joshuaheard 6y ago
An order of magnitude usually means 10x, ie 140 vs 14. According to your article, Sweden has had a lower death rate than the UK, Spain, or Italy.
- jaggederest 6y agoAh, this is hacker news - to me, an order of magnitude means double, 2^n where N=2 and N=>4, on deaths per 100k. Those are different countries, though, with much higher population density. This is the only case where culturally and demographically similar countries pursued different courses in a way that makes them eligible for direct comparison.
- kaitai 6y agoOne can compare it to its immediate neighbors (Finland, Denmark, Norway) and get your order of magnitude right there. Norway: 206 deaths, population a bit over 5.8 million. Finland: 199 deaths, population a bit over 5 million. Sweden: 2,355 deaths, population a bit over 10 million. I'll let you carry out the division yourself. Comparing to its geographical and cultural neighbors helps deal with differences in city structure, public health system, trust in government, population density, etc.
- djrogers 6y agoYou’re comparing apples to oranges here - Sweden is pursuing a narrow tall spike before getting to herd immunity, and Norway and Finland are trying for a looooong shallow curve. The area under the curve is what counts, and we won’t know those numbers for months.
- postalrat 6y agoCan we compare New York with its neighbors?
- kaitai 6y agoCompare it with equally dense neighbors, sure!
- joshuaheard 6y agoAll of these European countries are more similar than different. What we see here is significant data that contradicts the conclusions in the article. In other words, it is possible that Sweden's policy is working.