Why has the virus failed to take hold in Scandinavia, especially relative to other European countries?
According to the latest statistics from Statista, as of 28th December the death rate in the last 7 days from Covid was 50.7 per million in Belgium and 35 per million in the UK, both of which operate stringent lockdowns. In Sweden, however, with its liberal policies, it was 36; almost the same as the UK. In Norway, it was 6.3 and in Finland it was just 5.9.
It’s as though the Scandinavians, and especially the Norwegians and Finns, are somehow different from everybody else. What could possibly be behind all this?