Covid is not gone, but enough time has passed to evaluate the countermeasures like lockdowns, social distancing, face masks.  The following statistics is interesting.  As we know, Sweden remained largely open.  This does not mean that everything was business as usual, individual common sense could have played a role.  Maybe the trend is that governments simply don't trust their people.

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Timing is important. If you want to judge the effectiveness of lockdowns, we should look at the time frame where lockdowns were the most important factor. That was during spring and summer of 2020. Sweden's excess mortality rate then was higher than almost anywhere else in Europe except Great Britian (which had also gone with a herd immunity strategy with a lot less common sense than Sweden). Sweden's excess mortality rate did not drop to similar or lower levels to neighboring countries until 2021.

Sweden's policy also shifted throughout 2020. Whereas most other countries started to relax measures, Sweden actually intensified them. Sweden had imposed limits on public gatherings to no more than 50 people in spring, and by November they reduced it to only 8. They also banned visits to nursing homes (wise), and secondary schools were closed.

From early 2021 through 2022, the most important factor for excess mortality is the level of immunity within the population from vaccination and prior exposure. On vaccination, Sweden's rate is the 5th highest, behind Portugal, Malta, Belgium, and Italy.

Timing is important. If you want to judge the effectiveness of lockdowns, we should look at the time frame where lockdowns were the most important factor. That was during spring and summer of 2020. Sweden's excess mortality rate then was higher than almost anywhere else in Europe except Great Britian (which had also gone with a herd immunity strategy with a lot less common sense than Sweden). Sweden's excess mortality rate did not drop to similar or lower levels to neighboring countries until 2021.

It's interesting how on almost every metric that nations are measured by, the Scandanavian nations (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland) lead the pack, whether it's longevity (highest), income disparity (lowest), social mobility (highest), healthcare (highest), literacy rate (highest), happiness index (highest).  They do things right and the people are in accord with their governments.