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STOCKHOLM: Bjorn Branngard’s mother died in a nursing home in Stockholm, where five of the eight people in her section and more than a third of residents have so far succumbed to the new coronavirus.
“They did not have time to take care of my mother,” he told AFP.
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Her coronavirus test came back negative two days after her death, but Branngard, who claims she died of negligence, says the nursing home staff lacked protective equipment and was spreading the virus throughout the home.
Sweden, whose softer approach to coronavirus has attracted international attention, admits that it has been unable to adequately protect the elderly, with about half of COVID-19 deaths occurring among nursing home residents.
Reports have flooded Swedish media in recent weeks with home care for staff who continue to work despite the lack of protective equipment.
Others have refused to work and workers are encouraged to stay home even with mild symptoms, leaving homes understaffed.
Other staff admitted going to work despite showing symptoms of the virus, which could infect residents, while some elderly people have been infected while they entered the hospital for other treatments and were then sent to care homes where, without To know it, they spread the disease.
Sweden has reported 3,220 deaths from the virus as of Saturday.
The country said from the beginning that protecting those over 70 was its highest priority.
However, 90 percent of those who died as of April 28 were over 70 years old. Half were nursing home residents and another quarter were receiving home care, statistics from the Swedish Board of Health and Welfare show.
“We were unable to protect our elders. That is really serious and a failure for society as a whole. We have to learn from this, we are not yet done with this pandemic,” Minister of Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren recently said, to Swedish Television. .
“THE STAFF HAVE VIRUSES”
Unlike many European countries, Sweden has kept its primary schools, bars and restaurants open, while urging people to respect hygiene and social distancing recommendations.
However, he banned visits to nursing homes on March 31.
Sweden’s Nordic neighbors also introduced bans at the same time, but have recorded far fewer deaths in nursing homes.
But unlike those countries, Swedish nursing homes are often large complexes with hundreds of residents.
According to Henrik Lysell of the Board of Health and Welfare, they are only available to those in very poor health and unable to care for themselves, making residents “a very vulnerable group.”
Bjorn Branngard told AFP that the staff at his mother’s home did not have the proper protective equipment.
“There was no protection. The staff went between different sections and spread the virus.”
In Greater Stockholm, the epicenter of the spread of the Swedish virus, 55% of nursing homes have so far confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to health authorities in the Stockholm Region.
POOR WORKING CONDITIONS
Meanwhile, Kommunal, Sweden’s largest municipal employee union that includes many care workers, has blamed the precarious working conditions for the unfolding tragedy.
He said that in March, 40 percent of staff in Stockholm nursing homes were unskilled workers on short-term contracts, with hourly wages and no job security, while 23 percent were temporary.
In other words: people who often cannot afford not to go to work, even if they are sick.
“There are many different people working in various nursing homes, and that also leads to further spread,” said the head of Kommunal’s nursing home division, Ulf Bjerregaard.
In late April, Kommunal filed a complaint with the Swedish Work Environment Authority, alleging that 27 of the 96 residents at the home where Branngard’s mother lived had died so far from the virus, and yet staff received no equipment. of protection and no evidence was offered.
The authority is studying the complaint, and prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation.
A pseudonym for a 21-year-old refugee who declined to reveal his real name, Abdullah has worked as an assistant at a nursing home outside Stockholm for two years.
He told AFP about a resident treated at the hospital for a broken leg.
“She tested negative for the virus when she was with us. When she returned from the hospital three days later, it was positive,” he said.
“We had protective aprons but no masks when we were working with her,” he said, adding that he has since refused to go to work.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency said efforts to improve basic household hygiene routines were paying off.
“Stockholm has had a clear decrease in cases (in nursing homes), that feels positive,” state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters on Thursday.
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