Why are Covid hospitalisations and deaths higher in UK than in Western Europe?

Well, looking at the most recent figures, it appears that Ireland, Belgium, and Spain all have higher per capita new cases than the U.K. Also, while the UK's numbers are higher than Germany's, the UK's rate is trending down and Germany's is trending up, and Sweden's rate per capita is significantly lower than either, and headed sideways.

It's great to look at the difference between Scotland and England, but lumping "Europe" into one group masks (hehe) a lot of differences.

> then why no surge in Nordics?

> a) I don’t know

> b) but my guess would be that the same structural factors that have kept most of the Nordics relatively low-Covid for 18 months are still doing their thing

Let me summarize: If something doesn't fit into my narrative, I ignore it cause "structural factors". Got it.