Just another Spring day in Sweden

The Swedish model is getting a lot of buzz these days, and I don't mean Elsa Hosk. Unlike most of the Europe. Sweden chose to pretty much go on with things as normal, believing they would lick this nasty virus with "herd immunity." According to Hans Bergstrom, it isn't working, but that's not stopping the state epidemiologist from declaring victory, largely because he is under the impression Swedes believe they don't need a government imposed lockdown to stay safe.

The numbers don't match with the view, however. Sweden has far more deaths per capita than its Scandinavian and Baltic neighbors, and its numbers are spiking, not plateauing as state health officials claim. But, don't tell American conservative bloggers. They love the Swedish model because it fits with their belief that lockdowns produce no better results.

The interesting thing about the state's leading epidemiologist is he didn't even factor asymptomatic carriers when he suggested this approach to the government. It is highly doubtful the country has developed any special immunity. They simply haven't done enough testing to determine who the carriers are and what impact they have on the population as a whole.

When you look at Stockholm's numbers, they are not faring any better than other hard-hit metropolitan centers around the world. The death toll per capita is comparable to that of New York. Worse, it has a staggering 11 percent mortality rate, if its case numbers are correct! That's pretty grim for a country that prides itself on its national health care system.

Sweden has been forced to take a number of restrictive measures like limiting the size of gatherings and quarantining nursing homes due to surging numbers. However, the government has kept most schools open, which greatly worries parents. This hit and miss approach is what led to a huge spike in reported cases and deaths in Britain, which had initially championed the herd immunity theory before finally imposing a lockdown. For the better part of a week, PM Boris Johnson's life seemed to be hanging on a thread. Unfortunately by this point the damage was done, and that may well be the case for Sweden too.

There is no way to escape this virus. The hope is that by restricting public gatherings and trying to keep people more or less contained, the contagion can be spread out over a longer period of time and not cause undo stress on the health care system. This will give epidemiologists more time to come up with effective treatments, adequate testing and eventually a vaccine for the virus.

These lockdowns do create a certain degree of hardships, especially among those who have lost their jobs, but Sweden should be prepared for this, as the country has the financial reserves to compensate its citizens. It just seems that greed has won out with the government determined to weather this storm no matter how high the death toll.

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer. Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions. I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters. Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs. Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77. I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not. Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud. -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!

Dispatches from Vilnius

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