https://www.statista.com/statistics/525353/sweden-number-of-...
The spike in deaths seen earlier this year is similar to the 2009 flu epidemic:
https://swprs.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/sweden-monthly-...
Its unclear whether COVID presents a mortality burden any greater than regular influenza - and whether lockdowns or restrictions are at all warranted.
257 average deaths per day in 2020 vs 252 in 2018, which was the previous record high, putting 2020 on pace to become the new high record. That assumes that deaths are evenly distributed throughout the year, which at least in the US, they are not.
An annual snapshot of "excess deaths" lead to bad intuition. A weekly snapshot is much more helpful, leads to more accurate intuition, and generally is preferred.
The second chart is from October, based on the URL, and therefore missed the large spike of deaths in November.
Incomplete data leads to bad analysis.
Weekly snapshots are too volatile. If everyone who was going to die in March dies in the first week of March, but none die in the remaining three weeks, this will show a death spike whilst the number of monthly deaths is unchanged. If someone at the end of their natural lifespan dies a few weeks earlier or later than usual, this is not a national concern.
2019 was a weak flu season.
We need to examine this data across broader time scales to avoid the hysteria we are currently experiencing.
Kevin Drum puts together a daily chart showing 7 day rolling averages deaths-per-million attributable to COVID19. Here's a recent one:
https://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/blog_...
from:
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/12/coronavirus-g...
One elderly person dying a month or two early is generally not a national concern.
Many people dying months or years early generally is.
“Those... don’t count!”