In municipalities where the spread of covid-19 has been particularly high, nursing homes have also been particularly hard hit, the employers' and trade association Vårdföretagarna writes in a report.
That is one of the main reasons why the nursing homes have contracted so much infection, they say.
- Our staff live in society at large and they are also affected by the infection.
If the infection is high in the municipality where you live, the risk is greater that it affects the nursing home where you work, says Eva Nilsson Bågenholm, chairman of Vårdföretagarna.
Undeserved criticism
The report has also listed areas where it feels it has received undeserved criticism.
Among other things, no connection is found between lack of hygiene routines in homes and particularly affected municipalities.
And that many hourly substitutes would explain the spread of infection, they think is completely wrong.
- We were dependent on taking in hourly substitutes when many of our regular staff were on sick leave.
It was not the case that the infection took off when the hourly employees were brought in, but it was followed up, says Eva Nilsson Bågenholm.
7,514 people have now been reported dead with confirmed covid-19 in Sweden - and the majority of them are elderly, many of whom have lived in nursing homes.