But if their economy did worse than their neighbour, what was the point of avoiding invasive measures? They have more deaths, more cases, and worse economic output, what exactly is successful here?
their economy did not do worse their people are happier and pretty much looks like they would agree to do it again the same way
that is the real test of measures, would you do the exact same thing again?
which country would want to take the same type of measures once more
Lockdowns cannot stop COVID deaths and in the beginning nobody claimed they could. The idea that Sweden has performed worse than Norway is a massive goalpost shift that is rightly being called out as nonsense. Especially because it's clear how much corruption there is in these figures. Did the UK really do so badly compared to its neighbours, or is that a result of the health body defining a COVID death as anyone who ever tested positive and then died at any later point, of anything at all (i.e. all COVID infections are fatal according to UK stats).