Unfortunately I think that in the US at least the decision to lock down or reopen has become very highly politicized and we are starting to see virtue signallin

Unfortunately I think that in the US at least the decision to lock down or reopen has become very highly politicized and we are starting to see virtue signalling enter the equation. People now have a vested personal interest in seeing Sweden's approach fail or succeed, in order to reinforce their own political opinions and/or sense of morality. I find it very frustrating to see the way it's being spun. Firstly, social distancing is not a binary thing that you either do or don't do. Sweden has certainly implemented some social distancing measures and will continue to make adjustments to their strategy as new data comes out. And second, what works for Sweden may or may not be applicable in other countries. The virus spreads differently in different places, and different cultures may have differing attitudes about what constitutes an acceptable risk. I suspect that if Stockholm saw the same sort of explosive growth that was seen in New York, they would have reacted with stronger social distancing policies. It's certainly good to look at what other countries are doing in their response to covid-19 and ask if there are things that are worth adopting. But I think it's much more important for countries (and states and cities) to be paying attention to their own data... and that is what should be primarily driving their response.