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A lot of ppl think & #39;no lockdown& #39; means the Swedish ppl pursued herd immunity by going on as before. But when you talk to Swedish officials they are usually perplexed by this, b/c a mandate isn& #39;t the only way behavior changes--usually the other way around w/r/t Covid.
They certainly weren& #39;t *the same* as every other European nation, but the & #39;herd immunity& #39; narrative that paints the Swedes as a country of Alex Jones bots and don& #39;t tread on me flags misses that some crucial *behavior* changed without it being mandated.
This is one of the problems with the way the US talks about Covid: no middle ground. The rest of the world doesn& #39;t operate this way, because it& #39;s extraordinarily dumb and deadly. Americans also fetishize gov& #39;t to a weird degree: other countries allow for common sense.
So they don& #39;t always assume that if it isn& #39;t mandated it isn& #39;t being done. Would you wear a mask without being forced to in indoor/close quarters? I would. The lack of a mask mandate is not the lack of mask wearing.
But we have legislators who try to outlaw tide pods. Our view of government simply doesn& #39;t allow for nonintervention. You can point to any number of similar issues: ppl call something & #39;banned& #39; if it isn& #39;t subsidized by the government. It& #39;s weird.
Talk to Swedish officials about *why* certain mandates weren& #39;t put into effect, and you might be surprised by the answers. They aren& #39;t "because Covid is a hoax!"
Also around America, lockdown orders were lagging. Ppl had already, in many large metro areas, curtailed their leisure activities. I beg of ppl who fancy themselves analysts: if you& #39;re looking at a democracy, especially, watch the behavior, not the lawbooks.
And to be clear, I& #39;m not saying Sweden did things right or wrong or in between--I& #39;m saying the US media& #39;s discussion of Sweden attributes behavior to them that is not consistent with reality. It& #39;s also super insulting and condescending to Swedes, btw. Especially since it& #39;s wrong.
I remember one Swedish health official telling us that they recommended ppl do something and it was mostly followed. Why mandate that same thing? It& #39;s a revolutionary idea in America but not every politician or public official around the world is on a power trip.
