Boman self-critical: Too little focus on elderly care

The coronavirus developed into a global pandemic this spring and Sweden, like many other countries, has been hit hard. Four months have passed since the first case of the virus was confirmed in Sweden. Almost three months have passed since it became established in the county.

Since then, the number of sick people and deaths in the county has increased every day, many of them in the elderly.

Several infection control doctors in the country, including Hans Boman, tell Sweden's Radio Ekot that the municipalities, which are the ones responsible for elderly care, were forgotten when Sweden in February and the beginning of March became increasingly prepared for the pandemic.

According to Boman, this meant that the municipalities did not get things in place early enough, such as protective equipment and routines around basic hygiene in the elderly care sector.

- In many places it has worked well, but in some places the routines did not work to prevent the spread of infection in some homes, which led to the spread of infection. It is probably the most serious weak link, he says.

Some municipalities in the county say that you felt alone and did not know where to turn for help and advice. Justified criticism, Hans Boman, thinks, admits that cooperation with the municipalities could be better.

- Cooperation can be improved in many ways and this has been done during the journey. Now we have many consultation forums with the municipalities where we raise such things where we are both concerned. But I imagine they felt lonely from the beginning, says Hans Boman.