@kravietz @bhaugen
This is a classic case of selecting the numbers to confirm an existing conclusion ( #Sweden bad).
On the left, you are provided with the number of new #infections (if you believe in the accuracy of the test). However, these numbers are based on the total population (and on how many were tested, a number we are not provided with). Guess which country has the most people? Sweden 10.3 million, Denmark (next largest) 5.8 million.
On the right, the authors at least use numbers per million inhabitants. However, Sweden is compared to countries which have very low death rates (if you believe in every death caused by #COVID19 ). You could compare Sweden (358 deaths per million), also to countries with very restrictive lockdown measures, like France (410 dpm), Spain (587 dpm), or Belgium (784 dpm). Data from 16 May 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/
Beware, shiny graphs do not automatically equal truth!
> Sweden is compared to countries which have very low death rates
With this I disagree - COVID-19 epidemiology seems to be quite region-specific, possibly due to transport and cultural patterns. So the best way to compare specific policy decisions seems to be compare similar countries.
> Guess which country has the most people
Look at the graph. Does population of Denmark, Finland etc currently decline? It's not about the scale of the chart, it's about the trend.
@kravietz @bhaugen
Thanks for your reply!
> Sweden is compared to countries which have very low death rates
You may disagree with this, but it is a fact (from the graph you shared). What we should compare with what, is certainly worth a discussion. However, the authors compared also on the rationale, that Sweden has less strict measures enacted. Therefore it might also make sense to compare Sweden with countries, that have stricter measures, as I have done. Of course, this is only my rationale, which does not negate yours or that of the authors.
Regarding your second argument. Well, if you look at the graph, you see that the transmission (based on the tests made) in Sweden has flattened and I have not seen any horror news that the Swedish healthcare system has collapsed. Therefore, I cannot agree with the opinion of the authors.
Fortunately, this is just one static graph but we can play with live data on https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-data-explorer
First graph is total confirmed cases - do you see an outlier?
Second graph is per capita - do you see an outlier?
Third graph is tests performed - because I was wondering maybe Sweden was testing more than others.
