Sweden defends its decision not to cower before the coronavirus and shut down the country

Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE.


Leftists who abhor rugged individualism, liberty, and freedom have blasted Sweden’s purposeful nonconformity throughout the coronavirus pandemic, lambasting the European nation for ‘refusing’ to shutdown ‘like everybody else.’

But as Europeans throughout the continent once again begin to venture out-of-doors after being forced into self-quarantine by authoritarians who continued to retain their ‘right’ to move about freely, Swedish officials are defending their decision not to bow down in fear before COVID-19 and leave their country largely open for business and pleasure.

As noted by The New York Times, Sweden’s coronavirus death rate is not huge — 22 per 100,000 people. And while the paper seemed to sniff disapproval at the observation that “many” Swedes didn’t follow the government’s voluntary social distancing guidelines, the paper nonetheless had to admit “it doesn’t seem to have hurt them.”

The paper added:

Trust is high in Sweden — in government, institutions and fellow Swedes. When the government defied conventional wisdom and refused to order a wholesale lockdown to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus epidemic, public health officials pointed to trust as a central justification.

Swedes, they said, could be trusted to stay home, follow social distancing protocols and wash their hands to slow the spread of the virus — without any mandatory orders. And, to a large extent, Sweden does seem to have been as successful in controlling the virus as most other nations.

In other words, those who massively hyped the horrific nature of the disease (with little-to-no direct knowledge of COVID-19), including the use of grossly inaccurate and wildly overstated ‘death models’ and predictions of the next Black Plague — and who subsequently pushed for economies and societies to be shuttered based on all that bogus data — were wrong.

Very wrong, in fact. And Sweden has proven them so.

Indeed, the latest research corroborates Sweden’s decision. In a now-deleted YouTube video, a pair of doctors and researchers from California, with a combined 40 years of experience treating viruses and respiratory infections, broke down the death and infection rates in the state to conclude that people there have a minuscule chance of dying from the disease.

Their research dovetails with previous recent studies from scientists at Stanford University who have said, first, the lockdowns are counterproductive because they are depriving society of the “herd immunity” necessary to prevent a second major outbreak, and two, we’re doing irreparable damage to our country and economy for no good reason.

What’s more, average Swedes remain cautious but not frightened out of their minds.

“My respect for those who died, but we are doing something right here in Sweden,” Johan Mattsson, 44, said while drinking at a cafe.

“I’m not seeing very different statistics in many other countries,” he told The New York Times. “I’m happy we didn’t go into lockdown. Life has to go on.”

It’s not as if the Swedish government has done nothing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. As Fox News reports: 

Sweden has banned gatherings larger than 50 people, closed high schools and universities, and urged those over 70 or otherwise at greater risk from the virus to self-isolate — a softer approach than many other countries have taken. Schools for younger children, restaurants and most businesses have remained open, creating the impression that Swedes were living their lives as usual.

And, as Tucker Carlson noted during his program earlier this week, the lockdowns and shuttering of businesses haven’t actually stopped the spread of the virus anyway — an observation that makes perfect sense when you consider that plenty of “essential” businesses have remained open, allowing people to actually be near each other.

Of course, there are going to be people who claim that the shutdown orders implemented by most governors actually did “flatten the curve” of infections and deaths. But there’s no way to verify that. In fact, making such a claim is absurd in the face of knowing that Sweden, along with several U.S. states, elected only to adopt caution while remaining open and functioning — and they survived, somehow.

When all is said and done and honest people have had time to reflect on our collective coronavirus response, people may begin to realize they allowed hucksters, quacks, and the politically motivated guide American policy, to the country’s detriment.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!

Success! Thank you for donating. Please share BPR content to help combat the lies.
Jon Dougherty

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

PLEASE JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. If you've commented with us before, we'll need you to re-input your email address for this. The public will not see it and we do not share it.

Latest Articles