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New The way you put it, the US's handling of the pandemic sounds exactly like... Sweden's. :-(
New Sweden's was more open
Lower schools stayed open, businesses open, etc.

The main difference is the the people in Sweden are much more likely to follow the suggestions and not run around without a mask and intentionally coughing in someone's face. Culturally they can better handle a self-metered quarantine than the freedom-loving mask-hating cowboys over here.

Sweden also has a higher percentage of single person households, protecting the elderly and lessening inter-house spread.

Sweden has fewer cases but more deaths per capita than the US. Hard to draw a conclusion.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New "The main difference is..." That may be how it looks to you, but not from over here.
That vaunted discipline seems to have been an illusion, a presumption not replicated by actual reality. People have been running around taking no fucking precautions at all, going to work with coughs and sniffles, celebrating high school graduations playing games that involve passing items of food from mouth to mouth, and so on and on and on.

And personally I'm beginning to suspect that mortality-per-case is the same in Sweden as everywhere else; that the higher total mortality really only shows that the infection rate is also higher than claimed. The officially claimed number of infections is as low as it is, I think, only because Sweden has done such an abysmally bad job of testing.

Finally, noted academic Wunderkind Ann Linde, our foreign minister, was interviewed on German international TV channel Deutsche Welle, where she managed to display not only a pretty atrocious command of English, but above all how flustered any representative of the Swedish cabinet gets when confronted with a representative of the media who actually asks some penetrating questions and follows up on them, in stead of the meekly aquiescent treatment they're used to from domestic media. Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bCTt3PAPVU (Well, OK, that characterization is in large part taken from social media... Because for myself, I've only been able to watch, so far, about six and a half minutes of the full twenty-six. That's how far into "skämskudde" territory this is.)
--

   Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who (used to think he) Knows Fucking Everything


Mail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
New What kind of games do you people play?
Are you sure you aren't describing a genre on PornHub?
--

Drew
New My initiation into the Econ student society at Uppsala Uni back in 1985 was quite fun:
A walk around (the more student-ish parts of) the city, stopping at certain stations to perform some more or less silly task. One of the stations was diving for pieces of pickled herring in a trough of flour. Or, for extra points, another trough, with pieces of surströmming. Extra extra points if you ate them. Done in groups of about 3-5 people, points accrued to the whole team -- I worked with several of that gang for most of at least the first term, so obviously successful at helping people make friends.

I'm guessing this game (that I only saw mentioned in a headline swishing by somewhere) was something similar to that station on our walk: The type of food(s?) chosen for its (their) percieved yuckiness, all in good fun,"Haha look everyone, Lisa is spitting it out!", etc. Also, of course, the embarrasmment and titillation of the Lady-and-the-Tramp-with-spaghetti style "kissing" that will occur when passing stuff from mouth to mouth. Betcha organisers of the game tried to line up as many boys as possible next to each other before revealing how it was supposed to work, etc. Remember: This was a graduation, not an initiation. These kids already knew each other throughout high school, so embarrassing each other is much more the order for the day than making new friends.

On the whole: Pretty far from PornHub, AFAICS.

Only stupid as all fuck with a pandemic raging.
--

   Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who (used to think he) Knows Fucking Everything


Mail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
New And don't forget to peek at the year-on-year death statistics
The Netherlands (also using the herd immunity approach) in March had > 1000 deaths above the reported COVID deaths that could not be explained away by blaming the flu. Turned out they did not test anyone who died in a nursing home so their reported numbers were/are well below reality.
New I think culture is playing a big role here.
There is no question the US has handled this pandemic far worse than any advanced Western country. I think at least part of the reason for that is because of our mythology. It's almost blasphemous here to concede any benefit to a sense of community. It runs counter to our vaunted "self made man" myth. The chief reason we are the sole Western nation with no sort of universal health coverage is related to our primary attitude of "I got mine. You go get yours. It's the Superior Capitalist Way™" Chiefly, we don't have an NHS here because Americans are quite happy to pay for the own healthcare but by Damn don't you go asking us to pay for anyone else's healthcare! What are you? Some kind of Communist?

We also see this "Me first! Me alone! To hell with anyone else!" attitude in how many Americans are not wearing masks in public - even when under a county wide mandate as is the case where I live now. "Masks protect other people and why the hell would I want to do that? This is America goddamnit!"

This cultural antipathy toward a sense of community is especially lethal during a pandemic. It is playing out exactly as should be expected.
bcnu,
Mikem

It's mourning in America again.
Expand Edited by mmoffitt June 25, 2020, 02:06:24 PM EDT
New Re: I think culture is playing a big role here.
I don't think America has, as a nation, internalised the idea that it is no longer a frontier state, where being a rugged individualist is the prime characteristic required for success.
New Well said. They can put that on our nation's tombstone.
bcnu,
Mikem

It's mourning in America again.
New Bingo! ...that IS 'about the Size of' most of our dysfunction, IME.
     “It really does feel like the U.S. has given up.” -European scientist. - (Ashton) - (13)
         Re: “It really does feel like the U.S. has given up.” -European scientist. - (pwhysall)
         But wait, it's increased testing! And the US is huge! And... - (malraux) - (11)
             100F? - (Andrew Grygus)
             The way you put it, the US's handling of the pandemic sounds exactly like... Sweden's. :-( -NT - (CRConrad) - (9)
                 Sweden's was more open - (malraux) - (8)
                     "The main difference is..." That may be how it looks to you, but not from over here. - (CRConrad) - (3)
                         What kind of games do you people play? - (drook) - (1)
                             My initiation into the Econ student society at Uppsala Uni back in 1985 was quite fun: - (CRConrad)
                         And don't forget to peek at the year-on-year death statistics - (scoenye)
                     I think culture is playing a big role here. - (mmoffitt) - (3)
                         Re: I think culture is playing a big role here. - (pwhysall) - (2)
                             Well said. They can put that on our nation's tombstone. -NT - (mmoffitt)
                             Bingo! ...that IS 'about the Size of' most of our dysfunction, IME. -NT - (Ashton)

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