[Mattasher]

Sweden "went back to normal" a long time ago. Their Covid deaths rate is near zero. The "it's bad so we need to x" reflex, where x is any of masking mandates, social distancing, or especially take kids out of school, is anti-science and anti-human.

[sjg007]

Things are not normal in Sweden.

https://www.thelocal.se/20210812/in-numbers-covid-19-cases-c...

[HarryHirsch]

White exurban Atlanta (Randolph County) went back to normal as well, and now they are closing school because of a covid outbreak. I guess there isn't yet enough Delta variant in Sweden to make a difference. That, or the Swedish practice adequate mitigation (social distancing and masking).

[halefx]

I think you probably meant Cobb County, GA.

Randolph County, GA is farther away from Atlanta (~170 miles) than Chattanooga, TN (~120 miles). And as of 2010, Randolph County, GA was 61.8% black.

[HarryHirsch]

You are probably right. I mean the one near Marietta.

[Eldt]

Didn't Sweden have a lot more deaths than their neighbours?

[nradov]

What do you count as a neighbor? Sweden is 39th in the world by per capita death rate. Many other European countries have higher death rates, including some countries that took more extensive pandemic control measures.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

[voakbasda]

Small price to pay for herd immunity and normalcy, if it actually worked.

[theodric]

Spoken like someone who didn't die.

Also ghoulish beyond belief.

[nradov]

So far 99.86% of Swedes didn't die of COVID-19.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/

[HarryHirsch]

How many have permanently reduced lung function, vascular disease or are living with long covid?

The death rate isn't the only metric, especially now with the vaccine.

[hellified]

I'm living in Sweden right now (US citizen). We wear masks. I've been working from home at my employer's request for over a year now. Office buildings are pretty empty, restaurants are still mostly depending on takeout revenue. Our vaccination rate is higher than in the US, and we're still being sensibly cautious to prevent another wave. Sweden isn't the free-for-all zone you've been led to believe.

[Mattasher]

I was there at the end of 2020. Almost no one wore masks in Stockholm, even coming out of the subway less than 1%.