It\u2019s happened in countries all over the world \u2014 Vietnam, Japan,\u00a0Taiwan<\/a>, Australia, Mongolia \u2014 just to name a few examples. They all have been praised for their ability to \u201ccontrol\u201d the virus with masks and public health measures, only to then see cases invariably skyrocket.<\/p>\n Incompetent media reporting and dangerously ignorant \u201cexpert\u201d pontifications have been an infuriatingly persistent aspect of COVID messaging, with their incoherent ravings becoming increasingly\u00a0desperate<\/a>\u00a0as time wears on.<\/p>\n On the flip side to inaccurate praise, the incomprehensible inability of experts to get anything right is perhaps best exemplified by Sweden.<\/p>\n \u201cExperts\u201d and the media declared Sweden was the world\u2019s cautionary tale, a dangerous outlier who shunned The New Science™ of masks and lockdowns and stuck to established public health principles and pre-pandemic\u00a0planning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Over much of 2020 and into 2021, Sweden was persistently criticized by the media and on Twitter arguments due to comparisons to their neighbors, a standard curiously not applicable to most other countries around the world. Yet as we\u2019ve progressed further into 2021, those same media outlets have suddenly gone quiet as their chosen victors have flailed unsuccessfully against ever increasing outbreaks.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s see what\u2019s transpired recently which resulted in the deafening silence, and examine what that means for The Science™, shall we?<\/p>\n To begin, we have to look at just how hyperbolic and inaccurate the media coverage of Sweden has been since the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s\u00a0Time\u00a0<\/em>from\u00a0October 2020<\/a>, with the headline providing an impressively succinct summary:<\/p>\n It\u2019s a\u00a0DISASTER.\u00a0<\/em>A DISASTER! It shouldn\u2019t be a model for the rest of the world, they say.<\/p>\n The very first section of the article clearly exposes the heart of media incompetence:<\/p>\n The Swedish COVID-19 experiment of not implementing early and strong measures to safeguard the population has been hotly debated around the world, but at this point we can predict it is almost certain to result in a net failure in terms of death and suffering. As of Oct. 13, Sweden\u2019s\u00a0per capita death rate<\/a>\u00a0is 58.4 per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University data, 12th highest in the world (not including tiny Andorra and San Marino).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Got that? It is \u201calmost certain to result in a net failure in terms of death and suffering.\u201d The \u201c12th highest\u201d population adjusted death rate, they said.<\/p>\n How well did this age?<\/p>\n Not well! It did not age well.<\/p>\n Sweden now ranks 40th. Eleven months later, they went from 12th to 40th. Peru, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Belgium, Italy, Mexico, Croatia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Chile, Spain, Romania, Uruguay, Portugal, France, South Africa all rank ahead of Sweden. Nearly every one of them has tried masks and lockdowns and to this point it\u2019s resulted in a \u201cnet failure\u201d in terms of \u201cdeath and suffering\u201d compared to Sweden.<\/p>\n The article continued:<\/p>\n Despite this, Sweden\u2019s Public Health Agency director Johan Carlson has\u00a0claimed<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cthe Swedish situation remains favorable,\u201d and that the country\u2019s response has been \u201cconsistent and sustainable.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ah yes, the laughable assertion that Sweden\u2019s response was \u201cconsistent and sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n Except, of course, that\u2019s exactly what that graph above illustrates: an approach that was consistent and sustainable because it didn’t rely on indefinite mask mandates and business closures as methods to \u201ccontrol\u201d COVID. As other countries saw their cumulative mortality rates skyrocket, Sweden dropped precipitously in the rankings due to their consistent, sustainable methods.<\/p>\n The article is unbelievably extensive, and looking back now, laughably pointless. The writer\u2019s horror at Sweden\u2019s acceptance that the pandemic would spread widely through the population leading to increased levels of natural immunity looks even more monumentally ignorant given the\u00a0strength and durability<\/a>\u00a0of immunity conferred by previous infection.<\/p>\n And there were many, MANY others just like it. Check out the headline on this\u00a0piece<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0World Politics Review<\/em>:<\/p>\n Frida Ghitis<\/a>\u00a0Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020<\/p>\n A \u201creckoning!\u201d \u201cDisastrous!\u201d<\/p>\n Business Insider<\/em>\u00a0was similarly and unsurprisingly hyperbolic:<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\nContext<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWill There Be a Reckoning Over Sweden\u2019s Disastrous \u2018Herd Immunity\u2019 Strategy?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Sweden’s renegade COVID-19 policy looks like a disaster \u2014 but the country is quietly determined to see it through despite the cost in lives<\/strong><\/h1>\n