RedChili

My personal opinion is that the Swedish government has handled this better than most other European governments. My impression is that no European governments have taken the economic and social issues into account when they have instituted restrictions based solely on the advice of pandemic experts. I think that they've handled this problem with tunnel vision. The governments of Norway and Denmark have done even worse by closing down the schools in spite of the fact that the pandemic experts recommended them to stay open. In other words, they have done that with no recommendation from any experts in any field whatsoever.

The Swedish social system for dealing with uneployment is probably one of the better in Europe. But there are some big holes. E.g. small business owners are usually not protected. And I don't think that the unemployment funds ("a-kassa") can handle unemployment levels of 20-30%.

Home prices in Sweden have skyrocketed the past few years. Many people have believed that there's a bubble. This bubble is probably going to explode now, and it won't be pretty.

The pension system is partly based on funds that have invested in either stocks or bonds. Those that are primarily in stocks have crashed hard.

I believe that the Swedish economy has so far been hit worst by (in order of severity): 1) Collapse in exports. 2) Fear of going out and spending money. 3) Government restrictions.

bluesaturn

My personal opinion is that other countries handle better COVID19 in comparison to Sweden. The number of deaths per capita is higher in Sweden than in Norway, Denmark, Germany.
Unfortunately, Swedish PM listens only to Tegnell.

Did they really handle the situation better? The number of deaths say something else.
Children are used in Sweden as carriers to deliberately distribute the virus.

I question this. Germany and France pay longer unemployment benefits than the Swedish system. You are obliged to insure yourself in Germany and France, where as it is on a voluntary basis in Sweden.
If akassa cannot handle is, it is not well prepared.

I could not care less. Not my fault if people take on so high mortgages and hardly manage to pay them off.

That is also not unexpected. Such a system is prone to suffer from a crash. You can not have it both ways. Risk-free high output.

Which government restrictions? Moste of them are recommendations one does not need to follow.

Given the fact that Sweden has already more dead people per capita, I highly question the Swedish approach.
I am under the impression you value the Swedish economy more than a life. After all, rumor has it only old people die. It is not only old people that die.

I cannot see massive unemployment, hunger, malnutrition, violent crimes. I remember GUwonder mentioned there was a day without any burglaries in Denmark. If anything, the SEK is not stable enough against the EUR.

The Swedish system has its flaws and they are surfacing now.

PS: Sweden is doing not a good job regarding testing and FHM presents calculations that will just fit to the system. The assumptions are too low.

GUWonder

Highupinthesky said the thing about Denmark home break-in reports dropping to zero. I mentioned that home break-ins are down due to so many people working at home, illegal drug prices rising due to the virus-related restrictions, The criminal activity has been changed by this too, some types down a lot, some types up. The market for illegal goods has also been impacted with availability and pricing and buying power not being the same as before.

I don’t see how Sweden is doing itself any great favors with trying to stick with this “herd immunity” approach that has been given up by most that tried it and had to give it up. In medicine like In much of life, it’s better to put in the hard work upfront and take the bad tasting medicine sooner than later than to end up behind the eight ball at the 11th hour.

Easter is going to be a real killer in Sweden and it won’t work to passover the numbers who die from this in Sweden.

RedChili

Once again, it takes about four weeks from the time of infection until the time of death. So, when you're comparing today's death toll for Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany, you're comparing the results of policies made before there were any restrictions at all in any of these four coutries.

Many studies have indicated that very few children are infected or spread the virus. If you can read Swedish, see https://www.svt.se/nyheter/vetenskap...r-ny-genomgang

You really don't care if people cannot pay their mortgages, people become homeless, the housing market collapses, banks go bankrupt, and people's savings go down the drain?

Correct, in Sweden most of them are recommendations, That's why I wrote the restrictions as number 3 on what has affected the Swedish economy.

Economy is life. Economy pays for housing, food, pensions, health care, etc. Without money, people die.

Look again. In Norway, unemployment soared from around 3% to around 10% in two weeks of restrictions. In Italy, there is hunger, malnutrition, and violent crimes after three weeks of restrictions. The lockdown hits the poorest and weakest first. https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/va...att-handla-mat

GUWonder

So the 50 person caps on people coming to a venue in Sweden doesn’t apply to people in Sweden except in a very limited set of circumstances.

50+ people packed like sardines on regular public transit buses in Swedish cities this morning, with no place for new passengers to sit or even board at times ..... all due to full buses? Welcome to Sweden today.

Fredrik74

It's been explained to me that it applies to situation where you'd need a permit to organize.

nacho

What's not allowed: church services (pro-life vs economy), demonstrations, gathering for anti-government movements.

GUWonder

Yes. Another half-hearted measure amongst the half-measures in Sweden.

SATS in Sweden opened up most or all of its Swedish gym locations again and restarted with group classes .... as there was no ban against such activities and the other gyms were remaining open as usual and grabbing customers.

nacho

That's what the buses are like in Malmo during peak hours.

GUWonder

And that’s how the buses were this morning from various parts of Malmo to other parts of the area. Footage from today even showed the Hyllie-Bunkeflostrand buses full like the usual peak times for going to/from work and school. And that’s a bus heading from more populated (and more dense areas to less populated (and less dense) areas.

The bus school kids are going to bring the skiIng class demographics’ virus from the schools in the better part of town to the poorer parts that are way more densely populated and where public health levels tend to be much lower than average.

A couple of hours later, it seemed like Malmo office windows showed more activity than at this time last week and the indications were that even people who avoided the offices last week were more commonly back into the offices today.

nacho

Gotland is trying prevent tourist pouring into the island by adding 500SEK credit to use in a future trip instead of going there during Easter

Fredrik74

Funny you mention it because I know some people who are going. I've tried to explain the Norwegian prohibition on visiting your hytte but it's still lost on them.

nacho

It doesn't work on the people if they have decided what they want to believe and do.

They think as long as stay in their stuga nothing will happen. A lot of Danes go to their summer houses now to self-isolate away from Copenhagen, as long as they are not going out (they can't really go to places as they are all closed) then it should be fine.

Don't know if Gotland will become the second Åre: https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/cor...-oss-egoister/

Fredrik74

I mean, I would also have thought it was safer to leave the big city at first but it's the unwillingness to change plans I find baffling. When you're an adult you sometimes have to do some things you don't like because that's how the world works.

I feel like a grumpy old man now.

JR67

Well, Stockholm has a long tradition of exporting disease to Gotland. If you look at the chlamydia statistics, new cases are heavily concentrated in Stockholm September - May, at which point they become concentrated in Visby.