How is this possible? They didn’t force masks!
Alone among the advanced countries of the world, Sweden followed the sensible policy for dealing with a highly transmissible virus with a 99%+ survival rate, dangerous mostly to easily identifiable groups – the elderly and those with co-morbidities. It allowed the population at minimal risk to carry on life as usual, and restricted movements and otherwise protected only those at elevated risk. As the rest of the advanced world locked down, life for almost all Swedes went on as normal.
The result: herd immunity spread. Sweden’s economy avoided the catastrophic harm inflicted elsewhere.
And now we see that Sweden’s approach (which, incidentally, is how all previous pandemics have been handled) has been vindicated.