Earlier this week, the Municipality of Eslöv posted a Facebook post telling them that some elderly people had been subjected to conscious coughing, sneezing and joking about the coronavirus of young people in a grocery store.

"In the queue at the grocery store, there were several elderly people who became worried and scared," says Ingrid Westerlund, Head of Operations in Healthcare and Care.

Coronary jokes common in school

The event is not unique to Eslöv. At the Backaskolan in Malmö, several students say that coronary-related jokes are common.

- Someone passes by in the rest room and coughs very loudly or you just joke about it, says ninth-grader Noah Solgaard.

Students that SVT News Skåne talks to do not think it is so serious to joke about corona, as long as you do it with people you know.

- If you joke about something serious, it can ease some of the pressure, says Lilia Noorazar, who is in seventh grade at the Backaskolan.

Can be threatening

But if the joke goes too far, it can be illegal.
- This is nothing to joke about. There may be talk of the victim, says Ewa-Gun Westford, spokesperson for the South police region.

However, they have not received any police report of young people coughing for the elderly, but other regions have received reports of such situations.