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Comment by arkitaip | Hacker News Reader

Every single country has had a second wave. No, the reason why Sweden's covid-19 strategy is flawed, is the high number of deaths per capita, the government refusing to even suggest wearing masks, and failing to protect the elderly at our care facilities.

Our neighboring countries have enacted strict restrictions against Swedish travelers and workers and I totally get why: not only have our numbers been horrible but the government has been so irational at times that it must have been difficult to trust them to make reasonable decisions that wouldn't jepordize the lives of citizens in our neighboring countries.

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What a silly comment. The comment about masks seems particularly misguided now that it should be obvious that it was indeed possible to flatten the curve without mask mandates (or even recommendations).

The travel restrictions that countries had enacted are, at least now, unnecessary and are a serious harm to the global community and trust between peoples. At least in Sweden the cases coming from travelers have been insignificant since well before the peak of the first wave. It is now clear that the Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish governments do not care much about the stability of the Nordic cooperation and anyone might hesitate when choosing a job across the border.

> It is now clear that the Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish governments do not care much about the stability of the Nordic cooperation and anyone might hesitate when choosing a job across the border.

So, there's literally a single country going against the grain here (Sweden) but somehow you are trying to blame everyone else in the Nordic Council for not caring about stability.

That's almost as ridiculous as the UK complaining about France, Germany, Spain and Italy 'not caring about the stability of the EU' because they didn't bend over backwards to accommodate the UK's demands over Brexit.

It does not matter if Sweden is the outlier - it is the other Nordic countries that instated (and maintain!) emergency measures regarding travel. I don't know how anyone could claim that changed behaviour is the mark of stability.

I also think that the EU cooperation failed by closing borders and keeping them closed. That, however, comes as less of a surprise to me.

Sweden would definitely be exporting more cases than they would be importing with international travel.

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