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Contrary to the common wisdom at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden actually did extremely well in protecting its population. Jeanne Lenzer is now discussing the data at our @CatoHealth event: cato.org/events/pandemi…
“The main reason why Sweden had no excess mortality for people under 75, is because they didn’t shift the burden of mortality from older people to younger people by shutting down schools & businesses.” —Jeanne Lenzer
The policy response most nations took part in 2020 was contrary to nearly all established pre-pandemic guidance, which did not call for the use of lockdowns, highlights @VPrasadMDMPH.
Sweden left schools open, which was seen as controversial... but “now, reports show that unlike every other country that disrupted children’s education, there’s been almost no learning loss in Sweden,” says @DrJBhattacharya.
A population that panics will often undertake actions that have absolutely no benefit as far as disease control, but a tremendous harm, highlights @DrJBhattacharya, which is what happened in the U.S.
Public health officials in most European and North American countries failed because they underestimated how people spontaneously adapt to new circumstances and new information if you have a clear message, says @johanknorberg: cato.org/events/pandemi…#CatoHealth
We won’t be able to see the full impact of school closures for 20, 30 or even 40 years, and the impact might be so devastating, says @VPrasadMDMPH, that that decision in and of itself could overwhelm every other policy choice made.
One of the reasons why public health recommendations worked in Sweden is that Swedes had trust in the government and fellow human beings—but without trust in authorities, it is hard to achieve public consensus, highlights @johanknorberg
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Great-power competition reflects the combination of strategic anxiety with China and Russia on the one hand, and a certain bureaucratic comfort on the other hand, says @Ali_Wyne.
Even though the U.S. is the world’s preeminent power with more freedom for foreign policy maneuver, it needs strategic discipline, highlights @Ali_Wyne, and to understand that the essence of strategy is trade-off.