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Comment by snakeboy | Hacker News Reader

Both the EU average deaths pM and Sweden deaths pM are pretty similar, around 1300.

I'm not sure why you consider Belgium cherry-picking but not Norway, Germany, and Finland.

You could make an argument for Finland and Norway as more culturally similar (even if personally I find this logic suspect for explaining Covid outcomes), but I don't see how, between Germany and Belgium, one is obviously better than the other for comparison. It appears you chose a country that fits your narrative, and them, theirs.

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> I'm not sure why you consider Belgium cherry-picking but not Norway, Germany, and Finland.

> You could make an argument for Finland and Norway as more culturally similar

Exactly that. Germany I simply chose because that's where I'm from originally. The data couldn't be more clear that's why I thought it wouldn't be necessary to list many more countries with a stricter Covid19 policy and a considerably lower death rate.

If we're just choosing our personal favorite countries, we can also discuss France, who is still in lockdown (albeit weakened) with ~1450 deaths pM. :)

> The data couldn't be more clear

I don't mean to be rude, so please take this as an honest, albeit blunt, response. No one who is honestly analyzing this situation is making such a strong statement. Be them epidemiologists, statisticians, or independent analysts. The only ones saying this are politicians whose job depend on proving that their strategy works.

I would really encourage you to have a bit more humility at the complexity of this problem and the variables (and messy data) involved and the fact that we're still actively learning more every day about the effectiveness of different policy strategies.

Have a look at this study that analyzed different countries'/regions' responses to the pandemic and the outcome in terms of economic impact, death toll, etc:

https://www.institutmolinari.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/17...

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