Sweden’s economy took a worse hit than any of neighbors because it took them far longer, in the end, to get it under control. Infections and death are obviously

Sweden’s economy took a worse hit than any of neighbors because it took them far longer, in the end, to get it under control. Infections and death are obviously terrible, at 10x per capita compared to neighboring Finland, Denmark, and Norway. They are not going to achieve herd immunity, and the infections were all massed at the start of the pandemic, where far less was known and, for example, death rates on respirators were 80%, compared to 25% now. So at this point Sweden is in worse shape than comparable countries along any conceivable dimension. They might somehow end up better than others a year from now by pure chance, or because of smart choices from now on. They have recently diverged from their earlier eerie parallel track with the US, proving that they are, fundamentally, a functioning society capable of rational action. But, right now, they are behind with nothing to show for it. So, yeah, I can see why he’d want to delay judgement.