I work for a Swedish company. Usually, I go there once a year at least. But still, I talk to Swedish people every week. They did not institute hard lockdowns like other places and they did not shut schools down and their economy was not wrecked. They fared much better than many other nations. Yes it’s true their numbers are increasing now along with everyone else’s, but the policies they followed leave them in a better place today. And the people I know in Sweden will tell you many of the cases are in neighborhoods where recent immigrants live. Before you shallow minded bigot’s get all jacked up, science doesn’t care about your political persuasion. Some Cultures live differently than other cultures. They socialize in larger groups far more commonly than the native Swedes. That’s a simple fact and it has consequences.

However, the final story on COVID-19 has not been written yet. There are just too many unknown variables at this point to say who did or who didn’t make the correct choices. The average level of health of the average citizen in Sweden is far better than the average level of health of the average American. Additionally, Swedes have smaller families and generally speaking live more isolated than people in many other countries do.

Also, comparing statistics around the world as if they are accumulated the same is ridiculous. No one believes China’s cases actually fell that dramatically months ago. There’s no way to get accurate information from India or Brazil or other Third World countries. The flipside is also true, in the US some states list COVID-19 as the cause of death even if there was no evidence that COVID-19 played a role.

And the idea that Joe Biden is going to “get a handle on this pandemic“ is preposterous. He’s not going to do anything different any other president would have done. He can talk about a national mask mandate all he wants but the truth is 80% of people wear mask in public places today. A mask mandate isn’t going to accomplish anything other than leave people with a false sense of security which could actually increase cases.

Nobody claims masks and distancing are a cure.
The purpose is to reduce the burden on our medical system until we have a vaccine or the virus mutates into a less severe infection.
Less infections, less deaths are a good thing.  
Not a cure,.. but it will save some lives.

Lowering the infection rate is also good for the economy and jobs.
Opening up and taking precautions are not mutually exclusive plans... in fact, they are tandem.
Security and safety will create commerce.

In Australia it was all going well then there was a large breakout in Melbourne, in the State of Victoria. Our States cover very large areas here, and our constitution specifies open borders. That was recently tested in the High Court of Australia, which is the ultimate court against a suit brought by mining magnate and all around fat wheezing greedy pig Clive Palmer, and the High Court not only reaffirmed the right of the States to close their borders if they deem that necessary in this circumstance, but they also ordered Palmer to pay ALL the costs of ALL the States who joined the suit.

So Melbourne went into a second lockdown that was very severe and there were some very angry protests, but the upshot was the outbreak was quickly snuffed out.

So there are lessons to be learned if the US wants to learn those lessons and has the political will to use the power of the national guard and/or military to enforce their rules rather than use this power to stop a peaceful protest.

More on Clive Palmer if anyone is interested...

"It seems you, very uncharacteristically, did not read what I wrote."


 I did.  My response to you specifically was this part:

"I agree about the social structure and interaction differences of Sweden."


 The rest is not directed towards your response, I was not clear on that.  I would say we are thinking the same regarding Sweden as a comparative tool for the US.  

But, from a big picture point  of you, if you were to judge from the beginning of the pandemic to now, Sweden has absolutely done a better job in the US. However, it very well could be the general health of the people and the cultural behaviors account for that. No one really knows what was the best formula to follow. I’m not sure Trump could’ve done anything different than he did. The US is full of an an awful lot of fat, diabetic, unhealthy, old people.

China fxxked us and everyone else in the world.

"No one really knows what was the best formula to follow. I’m not sure Trump could’ve done anything different than he did. The US is full of an an awful lot of fat, diabetic, unhealthy, old people."

 Indeed.  We have a ton of co-morbidity factors in the US, and an apprehension to healthcare in a lot of cases, some due to cost, some just don't like going to a doctor.

 What's interesting to me is that if nothing ever happened in Sweden, or Spain this would be brought up for years, but since the predicted increase in cases and medical center loads has happened, well now we are expected to just ignore that part and downplay the fact that this was supposed to be "proof".  

 What's wrong with compromise?  What's wrong with acknowledging that nobody knows exactly what to do and how they will react to something that has never happened to them before?  

 Biden would do no better than trump in actual policy implementation in my opinion, however I do feel that just about anyone would do better than Trump in the press/PR components.