The old saying goes “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Having just heard a report on the radio regarding Sweden’s approach to the pandemic, it seems to me that they have prescribed that ounce of prevention to their population, and trusted in the people to take it to heart. As a result they still have open pubs, restaurants and businesses of all kinds.
They didn’t have to cripple their economy, borrow their nation into poverty, lock people up in their homes, close their parks, or force their citizens to line up to buy food. They haven’t decided to strike fear into the people, or convince them that they have to wear a mask whenever in public.
Sweden trusted their well educated, and already well socialized population to act appropriately. Yes, they have lost more people than their neighbours so far, but I expect that will change as Sweden will be through this thing much sooner, with their economy intact, while their neighbours will suffer on, and then suffer some more, and some more, to pay off all the debt they are accumulating.
So far there is no vaccine, and no treatment for this new disease. I believe there is some truth in “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” but clearly the rest of the developed world has now definitively now established that “A pound of prevention is not worth an ounce of cure.”
Rod Retzlaff
Glade