How Finland and Norway proved Sweden’s COVID approach works

In this article for the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), Jonathan Miltimore reveals to us that Sweden is not the only country in the world that has imposed a laissez faire approach to COVID-19.

Using the Stringency Index developed by Our World In Data, Miltimore shows us that Norway and Finland, neighbors of Sweden which have much lower COVID-19 death rates, utilized an even lighter approach to the control of SARS-CoV-2. He says, “…people aren’t attacking the results of Sweden’s policies. They are attacking the nature of its policies. Of course, there are many nations that have been hit much harder than Sweden. But these nations are ignored because they don’t threaten the narrative that government lockdowns work, and that millions more would have died without them”.

Editor’s Note: We are grateful for the COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index developed by Our World In Data because it will give us another way of seeing the ineffectiveness of lockdowns.

If lockdowns work, then why are countries with less stringent responses have much lower death rates? It isn’t just Sweden, Norway, or Finland. Countries in Africa, many of which having stringency indices below 50 have even lower death rates. What is in these countries that allow them to minimize COVID deaths? Why are experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization ignoring the success of these countries? Why are governments still preoccupied with counting infections when these numbers do not gauge the real threat of the disease?