<story><title>Why does no one ever talk about Sweden anymore?</title><url>https://ianmsc.substack.com/p/why-does-no-one-ever-talk-about-sweden</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Someone1234</author><text>&amp;gt; Why do you think population density matters? What might&amp;#x2F;probably matter(s) is the degree of urbanisation.&lt;p&gt;Population density is a measure of urbanization. I don&amp;#x27;t understand the distinction you&amp;#x27;re trying to make?</text></item><item><author>UrsaMedius</author><text>Why do you think population density matters? Does it matter that Swedish forests are large than Israeli deserts?&lt;p&gt;What might&amp;#x2F;probably matter(s) is the degree of urbanisation.</text></item><item><author>xivzgrev</author><text>Agreed, there are a number of counterpoints never considered.&lt;p&gt;Another one: Israel population is 20x more dense than Sweden, which naturally would lead to more spread
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;versus.com&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;israel-vs-sweden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;versus.com&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;israel-vs-sweden&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>ayberkt</author><text>I was living in Sweden at the beginning of the pandemic. I suspected that I had COVID multiple times and tried to get a test. The response I got from the Swedish healthcare system was: “it doesn&amp;#x27;t matter what you are infected with, just stay home”.&lt;p&gt;Even though the author does have a point, they overlook the fact that it&amp;#x27;s been much harder to get COVID tests in Sweden than the countries it is compared to in the blog post. Are these numbers normalised with respect to the number of tests performed? What about the number of tests on symptomatic vs. asymptomatic people?&lt;p&gt;Sweden&amp;#x27;s lack of action against the pandemic was not limited to just the lack of closure and mask mandates and so on. As far as I know, they never set up a proper test and trace system (please correct me if I&amp;#x27;m wrong, I&amp;#x27;m not sure about this) as they did in Israel or the UK. Of course their case numbers will be smaller.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>alkonaut</author><text>&amp;gt; Population density is a measure of urbanization&lt;p&gt;Population density is &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; a measure of urbanization.&lt;p&gt;A country with a single city of 1M and outside it a desert of 1M sq km has a population density of around 1 person per square kilometer.&lt;p&gt;A country with a single city of 1M and outside it a desert of 10M sq&amp;#x2F;km has a density of around 0.1 person per square km.&lt;p&gt;A 1sq km city state with 1M people have 1M people per sq km!&lt;p&gt;All 3 these countries are 100%  urbanized (no one lives in the countryside) and have the same population yet population density varies by four orders of magnitude.&lt;p&gt;Sweden has a &lt;i&gt;high&lt;/i&gt; level of urbanization and a &lt;i&gt;low&lt;/i&gt; population density. Or put another way: most people live in few places BUT the areas where people don’t live are large.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why does no one ever talk about Sweden anymore?</title><url>https://ianmsc.substack.com/p/why-does-no-one-ever-talk-about-sweden</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Someone1234</author><text>&amp;gt; Why do you think population density matters? What might&amp;#x2F;probably matter(s) is the degree of urbanisation.&lt;p&gt;Population density is a measure of urbanization. I don&amp;#x27;t understand the distinction you&amp;#x27;re trying to make?</text></item><item><author>UrsaMedius</author><text>Why do you think population density matters? Does it matter that Swedish forests are large than Israeli deserts?&lt;p&gt;What might&amp;#x2F;probably matter(s) is the degree of urbanisation.</text></item><item><author>xivzgrev</author><text>Agreed, there are a number of counterpoints never considered.&lt;p&gt;Another one: Israel population is 20x more dense than Sweden, which naturally would lead to more spread
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;versus.com&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;israel-vs-sweden&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;versus.com&amp;#x2F;en&amp;#x2F;israel-vs-sweden&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>ayberkt</author><text>I was living in Sweden at the beginning of the pandemic. I suspected that I had COVID multiple times and tried to get a test. The response I got from the Swedish healthcare system was: “it doesn&amp;#x27;t matter what you are infected with, just stay home”.&lt;p&gt;Even though the author does have a point, they overlook the fact that it&amp;#x27;s been much harder to get COVID tests in Sweden than the countries it is compared to in the blog post. Are these numbers normalised with respect to the number of tests performed? What about the number of tests on symptomatic vs. asymptomatic people?&lt;p&gt;Sweden&amp;#x27;s lack of action against the pandemic was not limited to just the lack of closure and mask mandates and so on. As far as I know, they never set up a proper test and trace system (please correct me if I&amp;#x27;m wrong, I&amp;#x27;m not sure about this) as they did in Israel or the UK. Of course their case numbers will be smaller.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throwawayay02</author><text>He&amp;#x27;s saying that Sweden is larger but that you can expect the same population density in places where people live, i.e. cities, so just raw national population density is not a good metric.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t know if it&amp;#x27;s true, mind you.</text></comment>