But Tegnell's admission made headlines, largely because Sweden has charted its own path, starting with relatively light restrictions compared to other European countries in the hope that the pandemic's economic impact would be blunted.

The role of Sweden in Internet arguments grew increasingly large as opposition to social distancing measures became organized in a number of countries.

Some countries in Europe, like Italy and Spain, were faced with a rapid surge in cases early in the pandemic; others had the examples of Italy and Spain to guide their policy.

Anecdotal reports suggest the businesses that have remained open aren't seeing many customers, and the overall economy is heavily reliant on exports, which have slowed dramatically.

But it's very clear that Sweden hasn't escaped the worst of the pandemic, or its epidemiologist wouldn't be questioning its plan.

Using information from Our World in Data, we've looked at how the pandemic has progressed in Sweden.

(Unfortunately, for reasons that aren't clear, Sweden seems to have seen a large spike in cases in the most recent weeks. This is likely due to a change in reporting methodology; it's more useful to focus on the trends prior to this spike, as we will here.).

In fact, if you look at the weekly change in confirmed cases per capita, it's clear that (even excluding the recent spike), Sweden was doing no better than the US and UK.

Denmark, Finland, and Norway have all seen a spike in cases in late March/early April, but these countries quickly watched those increases fade after the imposition of significant social distancing policies.

At this point, these countries are seeing very few new cases diagnosed most weeks.

Sweden, in contrast, has seen its rate stay roughly constant throughout April and May—and it's now seeing about 10 times the number of new cases as its neighbors.

And while Sweden's economy may not suffer as bad as that of some other European countries, its heavy integration into the world economy has greatly reduced its ability to avoid the global damage the pandemic has caused.