Don't Tell, Ask: Sweden's Scarily High COVID-19 Death Toll

Sweden never issued any mandatory lockdowns to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

Instead, the Nordic country asked its citizens to voluntarily maintain social distance.

According to Business Insider, Sweden has a relatively high per-capita death toll and case count compared to other countries.

That's an indicator the strategy might not be working, which came as a surprise to Swedish epidemiologists.

Last week, the head of Sweden's coronavirus response said in an interview on "The Daily Show" that the country's high death toll was unexpected.

We calculated on more people being sick, but the death toll really came as a surprise to us.

Anders Tegnell, Epidemiologist Head of Sweden's coronavirus response