{UAH} If Coronavirus is so deadly, why was Sweden able to treat it by basically doing nothing different?

Laszlo B. Tamas, Neurosurgeon with ties to the Bay area and Silicon Valley.

Perhaps the best comparisons are with other Nordic countries, who took a more "conventional" approach.

SWEDEN:

As many other Answers have stated, Sweden did in fact do things differently like:

• close colleges (but not primary and secondary schools)
• recommended (not forced) people to stay and work from home
• recommended no crowding of restaurants and bars (but still open)
• closed nursing homes to visitors
• kept borders open

NORWAY, DENMARK, FINLAND:

• were quick to close down all schools (Denmark: 11-Mar; Norway 12-Mar; Finland: 17-Mar)
• strong social distancing measures
• closed borders

THE RESULTS:

(keep in mind that Sweden's population of about 10 M is about twice the 5 M of each of the other Nordic nations)

Whatever its rationale, Sweden paid a price for its different approach, with 2,152 COVID-19 deaths - compared with a total of 760 for the other three Nordic countries combined:

Since the outbreaks may have had different starting dates in each country, here I have plotted them such that "Day 1" for each country represents the first day in which they saw 4+ deaths:

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You can decide for yourself which approach was best.

Swedish officials deny that they have been aiming for herd immunity.

What is undeniable is that there is a price for keeping society open — a price that is measured in deaths.

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Several people have made Comments that since the number of deaths from Sweden is so high, it drowns out the curves of the other three Nordic nations, which become hard to see. I have therefore plotted the curve for Sweden separately from that for the other three.

NORWAY, DENMARK & FINLAND:

(Note the single spike from Finland on the right, which represents nursing home deaths that Finland reported in one big tranche - thank fellow Quora Alexia Spelman for this excellent bit of information!)

SWEDEN:

I think the viewers can draw their own conclusions about the similarities and differences between these curves.

Allan

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