South Korea can afford a lockdown...
Sweden can
not afford a lockdown because its economy is trade dependent.
South Korea has more families with closer interaction between the households and higher density of population...Sweden does not for those that wants to do the comparison between the two.
Too many differences in the health care system, social differences and cultural differences.
Best to compare Sweden with its
neighbours considering Sweden did in fact lockdown some industries. Thus, to say Sweden did not lockdown is not exactly the full truth considering it did lockdown some industries and it still does lockdown bars & restaurants that fail to do proper social distancing...
Sweden does that because they can
not afford to let an outbreak happen while it continues attempting to develop herd immunity. In contrast, other governments its
not about the money...its more about their healthcare system.
South Korea can not manage a capacity problem so they must lockdown to protect citizens that wanted a lockdown and already under more government control than Sweden.
Don't forget, Sweden is currently under
travel restrictions from its neighbouring countries due to its high death rate while the neighbouring countries are re-opening its borders to other countries. Denmark, Norway and Finland are
not allowing in the Swedes because of the high death rate in Sweden.
- Those neighbouring countries obviously knows more about what's going on in Sweden than we do.
https://www.euronews.com/2020/06/15/coronavirus-swedes-not-welcome-as-neighbours-open-their-borders
It's
not a rosy picture in Sweden. Reminder, their policy is slowly backfiring because they are a trade dependent country. Some countries that went thru the lockdown policy are reluctant to do business with Sweden. Thus, the economy in Sweden is taking a hit too because they underestimated that countries today are globally dependent / connected.
Now imagine if other countries get hit with a 2nd wave and Sweden continues to have a high death rate while
not lockdown...it will be devastating on the economy of Sweden and it could put pressure on Sweden to have more restrictions beyond just shutting down a few industries if they continue to have a low percentage of its residents towards herd immunity.
- You need 70% of its residents to reach herd immunity plus have a vaccine or approved treatment.
Simply, there's currently
no vaccine and
no approved treatment...no possibility for herd immunity until a vaccine / approved treatment is developed.
When a vaccine and an approved treatment is developed...everybody will be fast track towards herd immunity including the U.S., Canada and France.
The conversation will change quickly when a vaccine is develop from lockdowns to governments requiring their citizens to get a vaccination. A big problem considering there's a lot of people that
do not believe in vaccination and very vocal about such.
Some are within the government itself while others are famous celebrities (e.g. Novak Djokovic).
Now imagine the countries that puts a lot of value on the freedom of its citizens and those citizens say
no to a vaccine. Heck, we have several well known ET members that openly state they do not believe in vaccines and will never be vaccinated...
Wild Wild West show
wrbtrader
but no FEAR is driving them.
) shows up here. Until then you are just as clueless as everyone else who thinks they are smarter than everyone else.