So, IF this is correct, what does it suggest out course should be? Open everything up except "retirement homes"?
I dunno. Sweden was not entirely open, and Swedes mostly behaved sensibly, so it wasn't business as usual. But their experience, much derided early on, appears to have paid off.
I did and still think it should be up to states to make their decisions, and further base those decisions on regions within each state. I'm thinking it would be prudent for states to consider the demographics of communities while making decisions.
Places like Illinois had statewide mandates. The people not located in or around Chicago suffered greatly. Did they need to? When Chicago became a hot spot was before the mandate. I suspect it got to be a hot spot in late December or early January, as people returned from travel abroad (and many other passed through ORD on their way elsewhere). I remember photos showing >5000 people lined up, tightly, in the customs area at ORD when travel to Europe was closed and everyone came back immediately. This was when we were told to not wear masks because they did no good.
Then you have Florida, which did a gradual re-opening, earlier than many states. When we first arrived down there, we could not eat inside or outside at any restaurant (not that we were eager to anyway). People gradually let their guard down and started trying to get back to normal. These people generally come from two age groups - the 65 and over and the 39 and under. This is based on what I witnessed while still there, and on what I can gather from the various newspapers around the state.
Since June 1:
Cases are way up (but now trending down) because of the 39 and under crowd going to bars. Deaths are up (looks like a plateau is upon us) because the 65 and over crowd got tired of staying home.
Level of positivity has been trending down for a month now, from 15% at the end of June to 11% at the end of July. That's good.