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The right wing suggest we can let people die of #Covid19 in order to 'save the economy'. But countries like Sweden that took that route did as bad if not worse in GDP loss than neighbours
Sweden -8.6
Denmark -7.4
Finland -3.2
Latvia -7.5
Lithuania -5.1
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/10545332/2-14082020-AP-EN.pdf/7f30c3cf-b2c9-98ad-3451-17fed0230b57
Sweden -8.6
Denmark -7.4
Finland -3.2
Latvia -7.5
Lithuania -5.1
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/10545332/2-14082020-AP-EN.pdf/7f30c3cf-b2c9-98ad-3451-17fed0230b57
Both Sweden & UK in different ways tried to keep economy open while talking of 'protect the vulnerable' Both failed because the vulnerable need a lot of care workers (1:1) and so can't simply be locked away from society, even if that was a moral option which it isn't.
Unless you intend to isolate care workers how do you stop those in their care getting infected. Same for health care workers. Or indeed for the elderly & vulnerable groups who often need others to care for them whether family or paid. Many families have 1+ vulnerable members
Morally many of these vulnerable elderly people are in their last otherwise healthy & active months / years. How is it reasonable to suggest they lock themselves back into their homes for those so the rest of us can 'get on with life. And many of them live with us.
Then consider how much is unknown yet about medium and long terms effects for Covid survivors. We know is some cases there are long lasting severe outcomes even from mild infections. HIV, Polio, HPV, Hepatitis & Herpes are all viral infections that don't go away after 1st hit
And while its true death is an unusual outcome for the young hospitalisation runs at 5% plus. 100k infections could be 5,000 people in a very over crowded hospital system, 250+ of them in ICU. Not at all sustainable
There are some 638k people over 65 in Ireland (CSO 2016). IFR at that age is well over 1% suggesting at least 20,000 at risk if death & perhaps a lot more as in 2005 2/3 were over 70 & 24% over 80 (10% IFR). Far too many to isolate
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp3oy/cp3/agr/
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp3oy/cp3/agr/
An aside on Sweden, it often gets treated as if it took no measures. This isn't true, they were considerable & escalated until they are now similar to ours. The main difference was our lockdown cut R & thus daily cases fast leading to deaths levelling off & curves diverging
Sweden actually closed down 5 bars that were breaking social distancing rules (we've yet to close 1). This piece despite the not great title is a useful Swedish account of what went wrong with decision making there https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/responsibility-of-the-swedish-left-for-swedens-covid-19-tragedy/
The Local' is useful for Covid Sweden news
Swedish & Finnish health officials' emails about herd immunity and schools - "One point might speak for keeping schools open in order to reach herd immunity more quickly," Tegnell wrote in the email https://www.thelocal.se/20200813/revealed-swedish-health-officials-emails-about-herd-immunity-and-schools
Swedish & Finnish health officials' emails about herd immunity and schools - "One point might speak for keeping schools open in order to reach herd immunity more quickly," Tegnell wrote in the email https://www.thelocal.se/20200813/revealed-swedish-health-officials-emails-about-herd-immunity-and-schools
Every day what happened and is happening in Sweden looks more and more dubious "Families, including those in high-risk groups, have been reported to social services and faced fines for keeping children at home." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/17/swedens-covid-19-strategist-under-fire-over-herd-immunity-emails
