Thread by @KoudijsHenk

1/Is loneliness more deadly than the covid virus?
A hypothesis on #excessmortality #oversterfte. This scientist @orwell2020 has has compared Sweden with a number of other countries.

https://twitter.com/orwell2022/status/1480877810151526402

Only Sweden shows no excess mortality in 2021. Why is Sweden different?

2/Sweden had no mask mandates, lockdowns, school closures. Swedisch government asked their citizens to act responsibly, rather than impose measures upon them. Citizens stay in control of their own lives. This empowers people. Imposing measures as a government takes power away

3/from people, tells your citizens we do not trust you, we must manipulate you to do the right thing. This is reflected in communication.

https://twitter.com/DailyMailUK/status/1481620817217736714

This leads to excessive amount of fearmongering in government communication. The government cannot be seen to

4/understate the situation or loose face when things turn out differently.
Not so in Sweden. The government divided the responsibility between citizens and herself. Being in this together less fear was needed, more connection was felt.

5/People react very badly when they are out of control, without hope, scared and lonely. It kills, especially among the elderly and we have known this for a long time. continue......
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
academic.oup.com/gerontologist/…
jstor.org/stable/1697974

6/ Is it not ironic, and deeply saddening, that the people we sought to protect from a virus now seem to fall victim to the measures we took to protect them. Measures we could have known to be extremely damaging. So many people died in loneliness hopelessness and fear.

7/ Research desperately needed, I hope I am wrong and there is another reason for excess mortality.