In 2020 the Swedish certainly saw an excess mortality while mortality in Denmark remained approximately the same as in previous years. But in 2021 this is reversed according to the data.

Thorsteinn Siglaugsson

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Denmark and Sweden took very different approaches. While Denmark imposed mask mandates, closed schools and repeatedly closed so-called “non-essential” businesses, Sweden imposed hardly any all-encompassing restrictions. Lockdown proponents have accused the Swedish authorities of recklessness and claimed their approach has led to an unnecessary death-toll.

But now the numbers are out, and according to two Danish professors, Christian Kanstrup Holm, virologist and professor at the University of Aarhus and Morten Petersen, professor of biology at the University of Copenhagen, in an article in the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende on July 8th, excess mortality in 2020 and 2021 was in fact the same in both countries.

Thanks for reading From Symptoms to Causes! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

In Denmark, harsh restrictions were justified by the need to prevent the breakdown of the healthcare system and the public has generally accepted this justification. The professors’ conclusion however is that this justification does not hold; despite very little restrictions in Sweden, the Swedish healthcare system was never even close to breaking down.

In 2020 the Swedish certainly saw an excess mortality while mortality in Denmark remained approximately the same as in previous years. But in 2021 this is reversed according to the data. The two professors also point out that in 2020 there was in fact no excess mortality in Sweden among those below the age of 75, which simply confirms how Covid-19 primarily attacks the oldest.

Excess mortality in Sweden and Denmark