Once again we have to reflect on the testing etc, where Sweden lacked it in the initial stages. They then brought in a lot of restrictions including the mask mandates later on.We are talking about infection rates, not death rates remember??
And the debate is whether masks reduced infection rates in Denmark, which they clearly didnt.
Here's another one for you:
Portugal population 10.5 million. 5.5 million infections. Strict mask mandate: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/portugal/
Sweden population 10.5 million. 2.6 million infections.No mask mandate: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/
Heck, since you brought up deaths. Sweden had 4,000 less deaths than Portugal did.
So based on Denmark and Portugal stats you can make the argument that masks made things worse.
No wonder Ford doesnt want to bring back a mask mandate
Remember that Portugal, Spain etc were the First European Nations to be hit with the virus when it broke out in Europe. Their numbers were high to start with before the travel restrictions were imposed by nations around the Globe including Scandinavian nations. The restrictions were eventually lifted after the virus were seemingly brought under control. But that is when Portugal had the highest Per Capita Cases in Europe around the middle of January 2021. NO MASKS WERE IN PLACE AT THAT TIME!! That is when they started the stringent restrictions including mask mandates. TOO late by then. But why are you comparing apples with oranges as we all know that Portugal and Spain were the hub of tourism that brought the viruses in much earlier than the Scandinavian Nations, including Sweden?
Now I already proved that the Death Rates were a true signal of the actual infections as a sizeable portion of the population probably do not get tested for the Covid-19 and the true infections are not recorded. Hence the Death Rates are far more accurate in that respect. So here goes with a Nation like Norway that had the strict lockdowns:
Norway population 5.5 million. 4325 Deaths. Strict mask mandate: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/norway/
Sweden population 10.5 million. 21,002 Deaths. No mask mandate: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/
Yes over 2.5 Times the number of deaths per capita in Sweden. That is why the people were pissed off with how they handled it and it was only then that the brought in the restrictions including mask mandates indoors!!