But I'm curious why you are claiming something that is so completely wrong. Where did you get the idea from? Are you living in Sweden and strongly disagreeing with the official response, or are you living somewhere else, but "read it on the internet" ?
I suspect that there is a strong wish for Sweden to fail among people in countries with severe lockdowns, because that would validate their decisions to lock down in the first place. Sweden must be "punished" for not following the herd, because if it isn't, it means that the herd was wrong, it means that suffering through a lockdown was for nothing. It means your local politicians over-reacted, and destroyed parts of the economy needlessly.
And then you get these hit pieces that says everyone in Sweden is out and about, hugging and licking each other, and everyone died of the zombie apocalypse Last Thursday.
My best guess is that the truth is a lot more complicated than that, and that there absolutely isn't any kind of simple linear relationship between the severity of lockdown measures and excess deaths. There are so many variables, so much random noise, and so much cultural difference between countries. If every country is doing 20-30-40-50 different measures at once, how can we even start to figure out which ones do something, and which ones don't? Is washing your hands more important than wearing a mask while you're outside? Is closing workplaces more efficient than closing schools? There's appearing evidence that kids actually are very bad transmitters of this particular virus - contrary to "common sense", which dictates that kids are filthy petri dishes that are always sick and always spreading disease.
We know so little right now. It's going to take years before we'll know which countries did the right thing and which countries did the wrong thing.
The policy will look extremely unfortunate if one of the vaccines that's already being trialled actually works...
Example article: https://www.euronews.com/2020/04/21/analysis-is-sweden-right...
If you're driving a bus full of people towards a cliff, is it ok to not hit the brakes just in case the bus might get back-ended by a truck driving behind?
I live in Stockholm - had to walk through town the other evening to get a piece of equipment I left at the office (chose the evening to meet the least number of people was my plan). The bars and restaurants were PACKED and people were everywhere in the parks and open spaces.
"Universities are closed, high schools are closed, elementary schools are half-empty, people that can work from home do so, a lot of employees have been furloughed, restaurants have switched to mostly take-out, bars are closed, large events are cancelled, grocery stores reserve hours in the morning for senior citizens, elder care homes don't accept visitors, travel is way down, and people generally self-isolate and self-quarantine. Field hospitals have been constructed, recently retired healthcare workers have been asked to come back to work, vodka producers have shifted to making hand sanitizer, and other companies have shifted to making PPEs, etc."
You can also check out for example Google's mobility reports: https://www.gstatic.com/covid19/mobility/2020-04-17_SE_Mobil...
is either incorrect or the policy was changed very recently ?
This is not a country divided. And we should also be clear that this is not a country that has done nothing. It has banned large gatherings, closed high schools and universities and told elderly people to self-isolate.
But restaurants, bars, primary schools and most businesses are still open.
Which directly contradicts your statement. (Your statement says that bars are closed while this article claims they are open.)
But the article is slightly weaselly in its wording. Yes, bars and restaurants are open, but it's take-out or table service only, and you typically leave every other table empty so that people are sitting 2m away from everyone else. The actual bar part of bars and restaurants are closed.
Note how the picture in that article is taken at a low angle so you can't clearly see the spacing between the people at the tables. A photo from the side would show a completely different picture.
Of course numbers are down - it's not everyone that's partying - but the voluntary restrictions are absolutely not being followed by the majority of younger (and somewhat older) people.
https://www.thelocal.se/20200420/coronavirus-will-sweden-eve...
I can assure you that's not true. All bars are open exactly as normal. Where are your friends located?
Google Mobility Report says "Retail and recreation" is down 27% in Stockholms län. Blunt statistics, but you can't pretend an almost 1/3 drop in business is anywhere near normal.
Some areas of the city look almost normal, yes, but other areas of the city are deserted wastelands. I'm sorry you are surrounded by idiots who are ignoring the official recommendations, but statistics show that your experience isn't universal.
The fact that in the county of Stockholm (ie: not central Stockholm) the supposed movement of people for 'retail and recreation' (as measured by Google) is down 27% is something completely different.
Personally I'm not surprised that people are out a bit less - I'm not meeting my friends in bars at the moment, for instance. But a rainy week could have an impact on bars and pubs at this time of year. A 27% fall (if true) is hardly surprising, given the circumstances right now.
In central Stockholm the bars, restaurants and even parks are full of people.