Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

I know that at the start of this, their demographics were unique. They have a lot of single-person households, and very few three-generation households. Their workforce was already more WFH capable than a lot of other nations. And they don't have the level of anti-mask Karens that we do.

Their COVID experience was much worse than their "peers" of Norway and Finland, as well. So to the extent that demographics and culture play into it, there's that.

But I have no explanation for how they turned their cases and deaths so low.

Methinks a lot of people will be getting their PhDs in epidemiology trying to come up with an explanation.

one of the few things I won't eat

Sweden got hit pretty hard back in April, and then ... whoosh, despite many assertions they would crash and burn.

It's an amazing story really.  Meanwhile France is going vertical.  I think France is on the verge of a re-shut down, which I also think won't really do more than delay things.

I'd try it. Just to say I've done so.

I tried it more than 2 or 3 times
a lot of it in this area, back in the day.. not as prevalent today

large  Norwegian groups

one person's description.....................

The word “lutefisk” translates to “lye fish,” which is the first clue regarding this mystery meal, but it looks unlike any seafood most people have ever seen. It’s white, semi-translucent, and, weirdest of all, gelatinous. Honestly, it looks like a cross between fat cells and some type of jellyfish Jell-O (apologies for that mental image). Okay, enough already, what in the heck is it?

Lutefisk is whitefish — which refers to several species of finned fish such as cod, ling, or burbot — that has been air-dried and may or may not be salted. (The unsalted version is also known as “stockfish.”) It is first soaked in cold water for five or six days, with the water changed daily. The now-saturated fish is then soaked again for two days in an unchanged solution of cold water and lye. Lye, for the record, is a substance obtained by leaching ashes, and is also known as sodium hydroxide. After this weeklong process, the fish loses half of its protein and gains a jelly-like consistency. At this point it is also caustic (you may remember lye as the stuff Tyler Durden used in Fight Club to cause chemical burns and also make soap), so it needs another four to six days of soaking in cold water, refreshed daily, before it is ready to be cooked. Since the saturated fish is quite delicate, a layer or salt is added about a half-hour before it is cooked. This releases some of the water being held. It is then placed in a sealed pan and steam cooked on low heat for 20-25 minutes, or wrapped in aluminum foil and baked at 435 degrees F for 40-50 minutes.

"Lye" is a generic term for sodium hydroxide, "base", the opposite of acid.  It is used to make soap by saponifying animal fat.

The company for whom I used to work has some history in the area.

I'm always amazed reading about 19th century chemists and the stuff they managed to do.

I know. But if it was an "area under the curve" answer, it wouldn't explain why Georgia isn't skating right now.

I think that we're looking at Sweden with an extreme outsiders view, and we're trying to answer questions we're not capable given a lack of knowledge about the real situation on the ground.

I love the comparisons between Sweden and Georgia.  Go get 10 people from each place and tell me there are another 2 groups of people on this planet who are more different in every way.