[Petrochemicals (OP)]

Sweden is doing well at the moment in relation to corona, low cases low mortality.

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

Yet some outlets continue to broadcast the abject failure of sweden

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9126087/amp/Sweden-gets-tough-coronavirus-new-law-close-shops-limit-gatherings-deaths-soar.html

And a non joke news source

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sweden-cases/swedish-covid-19-cases-cross-500000-mark-as-hospitals-near-limit-idUSKBN29H1MQ

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sweden-cases-idUSKBN29A1F4

[Bored chemist]

Sweden is doing well at the moment in relation to corona, low cases low mortality.

They have the 24th highest per capita death rate of the 221 places on worldometer.
So, roughly 9 out of 10 places are doing better.

Please explain how you came to the conclusion that they are

doing well at the moment in relation to corona

They are within a factor of 2 or so of the UK and USA, so they certainly aren't doing anything specially well.

The Daily Fail is a right wing propaganda sheet and will lie about Left wing democracies like Sweden.

Reuters are reporting that, as the number of cases rises, the government is planning to do something about it.
Hardly news but certainly not "fake news"

[Kryptid]

What metric are you using to define "low cases" and "low mortality"?

[Petrochemicals (OP)]

What metric are you using to define "low cases" and "low mortality"?

Other countries figures, Sweden at present averaging 5000 cases and 25 deaths, versus UK or US or any other of the big hitters. Scaling for UK population we have 30,000 cases and 150 victims, figures that the uk is at present envious of at 50000+ and 1000+.

It's not just this that is questionable as fake news there are downright lies, the headline reads

Sweden registers 7,187 new COVID-19 cases, 171 deaths

Or there is

The country of 10 million inhabitants registered 234 new deaths since Friday

Over a 3 day period  they would have been unlikely to register 100

[Bored chemist]

Other countries figures

That's what I did.

They have the 24th highest per capita death rate of the 221 places on worldometer.
So, roughly 9 out of 10 places are doing better.

Please explain how you came to the conclusion that they are

the headline reads

It does now because you edited your post, but it didn't before.
Why try to change history?

Also, on what basis are you saying that the headline is wrong.
Did you nip over to Sweden and count them?

The country of 10 million inhabitants registered 234 new deaths since Friday

Over a 3 day period  they would have been unlikely to register 100

Again; what are you basing your numbers on?

[Hayseed]

Statistics is like space-time.  The deck of wild cards.  All players can select their own hand.

[evan_au]

Sweden is doing well at the moment in relation to corona, low cases low mortality.
Yet some outlets continue to broadcast the abject failure of sweden

In 2019 I had the privilege of visiting several of the Nordic (ex-Viking) countries
- I get the impression from my brief visit that these countries have more of an attitude of "we're in this together, let's cooperate"
- Plus, I work for a Finnish company
- They appear to be more trusting of the government, and less prone to idolization of capitalism and strident individualism than (say) USA or UK

So when the Swedish government recommended taking care with COVID (especially for aged care), I expect that the people listened and acted
- The comparison of interest is that the Swedish government did not insist on a lockdown
- While its Scandinavian neighbors did have a lockdown
- So the most appropriate comparisons for Sweden would be Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland

Sweden has realized that it's not doing as well as its neighbours, and is changing policy...

[Petrochemicals (OP)]

In 2019 I had the privilege of visiting several of the Nordic (ex-Viking) countries
- I get the impression from my brief visit that these countries have more of an attitude of "we're in this together, let's cooperate"

The nordic  countries with their attitude are far more happy and willing to pay tax, they understand its for the provision of services.  Rather than bleeding the health are system to death over 10 years so when a problem came along there was nothing to deal with it, they had adequate health care provision. So it would be an unfair comparison also to state that "Sweden has only 20 percent of its ICU beds avaliable when these are the original bed provision that is always avaliable without cancelled operations or bed creation. The same can be said for Germany or Korea or Japan, all of which didn't do too badly. I suppose the spending on health are translates to track and trace as well!

[alancalverd]

Quote
The country of 10 million inhabitants registered 234 new deaths since Friday
Over a 3 day period  they would have been unlikely to register 100

Average registered COVID death rate in Sweden this year to date is about 75 per day. You can't usefully interpret  any "3 day" period because there are so many public holidays when registries are closed. 423 deaths registered on 2 January compared with 14 the day before and 15 the day after simply does not make epidemiological sense!

[Bored chemist]

on what basis are you saying that the headline is wrong.
Did you nip over to Sweden and count them?

[Petrochemicals (OP)]

And more

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19021601.good-morning-britain-piers-morgan-grills-brandon-lewis-uk-covid-death-rate/

Sweden being listed as around 150 deaths a day, yet the WHO disagree. It smells of propaganda.

https://covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/se

[Bored chemist]

Sweden being listed

on what basis are you saying that the headline is wrong.
Did you nip over to Sweden and count them?

[alancalverd]

Apples and oranges.

Vaccination prevents those who are vaccinated from getting ill if infected. It doesn't treat existing infection.

Attributable death happens to people who were infected but not vaccinated some time in the last year. 

AFAIK Piers Morgan is not an expert in anything, so it isn't surprising if his questions are meaningless.

Brandon Lewis is a lawyer and a government minister, so it isn't surprising if his answers are meaningless.

[Bored chemist]

AFAIK Piers Morgan is not an expert in anything, so it isn't surprising if his questions are meaningless.

Asking why we have the highest death rate in the world is not a meaningless question, even if the actual data is fishy.
The answer seems to be that other countries don't have Boris.

[Petrochemicals (OP)]

And more

‘Too little, too late’
Last Friday, 10 months after the pandemic hit, parliament finally granted the government the powers it would need to shut private businesses such as shops, gyms and sports halls.

A week later, it hasn’t used them, despite one of the fastest rates of virus spread in Europe.

www.politico.eu/article/sweden-social-democrats-stefan-lofven-coronavirus-critics/amp/

[alancalverd]

Asking why we have the highest death rate in the world is not a meaningless question,

It's also a bit pointless. There being no treatment for COVID, its lethality is independent of geography or government.
We have the highest death rate because we have the highest infection rate, which is entirely attributable to geography and government policy.
Problem is that deaths make headlines, and journalists and politicians feed on headlines.

The question that needs to be answered is who is to blame for consistently putting "the economy" before public safety, and thereby destroying both? 

[Bored chemist]

The question that needs to be answered is who is to blame for consistently putting "the economy" before public safety, and thereby destroying both? 

That's the same question but, as you pointed out, it makes headlines better if framed in terms of deaths.

So another interesting question is why the news articles are not full of questions about Boris killing thousands by being incompetent.

[alancalverd]

I think it goes beyond incompetence. I'm looking at the legal position of a class action for corporate manslaughter or negligent homicide (discharging infectious patients into nursing homes) . The US impeachment proceedings actually provide a useful precedent regarding indirect incitement to behavior likely to endanger others ("have a family Christmas").

The problem with questioning a politician on "why do we have a high death rate" is the simple answer "because we have a high infection rate", which is true and implies that it's the fault of the public or some historical infrastructure anomaly, and the result is not under the control of government.

Asking "who is to blame for the high infection rate" demands either explicitly blaming the public (which can damage your popularity with the voters)  or naming a few names. And you can't wriggle out of it by blaming a mutation because (a) at worst, that only increases R by about 0.15 and (b) the most significant mutation appeared in Kent and is thus almost certainly the result of poor control at the Channel ports.

[evan_au]

An interesting article here (especially the graph at the bottom of the page):
https://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/ethics/dont-be-too-quick-to-judge-swedens-covid19-policy

It shows that without a lockdown, Sweden took longer to get COVID under control, compared to other European countries.

In contrast, in 2020 the USA never really made a serious attempt to get COVID-19 under control
- On his last day in office, Donald Trump achieved a significant milestone: In just 10 months he accomplished what took 44 months during the wartime urgency of World War 2: The death of 400,000 Americans.

[Petrochemicals (OP)]

An interesting article here (especially the graph at the bottom of the page):
https://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/ethics/dont-be-too-quick-to-judge-swedens-covid19-policy

It shows that without a lockdown, Sweden took longer to get COVID under control, compared to other European countries.

In contrast, in 2020 the USA never really made a serious attempt to get COVID-19 under control
- On his last day in office, Donald Trump achieved a significant milestone: In just 10 months he accomplished what took 44 months during the wartime urgency of World War 2: The death of 400,000 Americans.

I find the "death of 400,000 Americans" a bit of a headline grabber. Almost all of the people who have died in this pandemic have been sustained over their latter lives by medical support, be it through medical support in the form of medications or  flu jabs etc. Statistics like this beg the question should we shut down for influenza because this would save 100000 lives a year in the USA? Why do we not ban peanuts and sesame seeds, eradicate all the bees as these are known killers too! The lockdowns where ment to keep the hospitals from overload, not prevent the natural progression of life. The USA war dead would have survived without the flu jab, we have built a large aging populace with such supports but people are surprised what happens when the support is removed.

Imagine you where a fit cancer patient in April 2020, who had incurable cancer. They receive a letter telling them to isolate as they are vulnerable and are not allowed to go out and enjoy themselves. Now fast forward to April 2021. They recieve their jab, and are free to go out. Unfortunately the cancer has spread over Christmas and they are no longer able to leave their house. The good news is they are going to live immobile another year until 2022. They are dispondent and depressed and make orders of the do not recusitate like other people in care homes already have. Thankfully we have saved the person from enjoying themselves in their final years and they can join the raft of other people who do not wish to be recussitated. Quality of life years versus longevity are something to be considered.

I can only think much of the drama over death toll is from people who have no knowledge of the end of life care and quality of life. The value of you life is what it means to you, there are people who can survive but wish not to.