And yet Sweden is doing just fine, sans lock down.
Ya mean that social democratic country that's a paragon for Millennials everywhere?
Sweden (and, for the most part, Scandinavia as a whole) is an interesting country. They have always marched to a different drummer, which is evident by their furniture, automobiles, porn, historically homogenous population, and a ton of other things.
So from the get-go, it would not be unusual for Sweden to try things in a different manner. Comparing them to the US is like comparing apples to lingonberries.
Sweden has a strong health care system that has not experienced a shortage of medical equipment or hospital capacity. In fact, if you dig deep, you'll find they've set up tent facilities that have remained mostly empty because their health care infrastructure can handle the population.
Likewise, Sweden has a large segment of the population that lives alone, which makes social distancing a snap.
Telecommuting is quite common in Sweden, so the only cough you hear is your own. That requires strong Internet access, which Sweden has--a boon to productivity.
Like us, Sweden is having problems with the rate of infection of residents of nursing homes. But have you compared Sweden's overall infection and death rate to Norway and Denmark's? Certainly it's not something to crow about, although less than the key European countries like Italy. If you look at this page, you can see how Sweden isn't doing quite fine despite your assertion:
That's not to say they're handing it the wrong way, but the way you frame it is disingenuous.
Sweden's insularity is in its favor because the country can count on individuals taking responsibility. That's not something that can be said of the United States, unfortunately, what with these Federalist Warriors and second-rate idiots ruining it for the rest of us. That's why we have legislation to regulate behavior, while Swedes are content to follow the rules.
