[ad_1]
Published:
Updated:
Despite the appeal of the health service for small New Years celebrations, many chose to celebrate in 2021 in crowds in streets and squares.
At Götaplatsen, some 3,000 people gathered at noon.
– When so many meet in happy and vocal ways, there is a risk of a spike in medical care again, says Chief Physician Jerker Isaksson of Sahlgrenska Hospital.
In the run-up to the Christmas and New Year holidays, the health service has asked people to stay away from important celebrations outside the immediate circle. This is because Sweden is still in the middle of the second wave pandemic, with little sign that it is about to slow down.
The fact that 3,000 people gathered at Götaplatsen is a cold shower for Jerker Isacson, chief physician and director of the on-call hospital at Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Hospital.
– It wasn’t good news. It can hardly have escaped anyone that attention is generally greatly affected by the pandemic. What you describe is clearly inappropriate behavior, you say when Aftonbladet catches up with you at the hospital on New Year’s Day.
“I feel a little disappointed”
Sahlgrenska had 246 covid patients admitted to its wards before New Year’s weekend, and it has dropped to 226 on Friday. But the number of IVA patients has more than doubled, from 21 to 46 patients. The chief physician fears that the large crowds during the New Year celebrations in Västra Götaland will lead to more hospitalizations.
– When so many meet in a cheerful and vocal way, there is a risk of too close contact, contributing to us getting a spike in medical care again, he says.
How do you think your healthcare professionals will feel when they hear about these crowds?
– I think you feel a certain disappointment and frustration because not all people understand how important it is to follow the recommendations now, he says.
Just because the vaccines have started shouldn’t put us on the safe side, he says.
– We must continue to follow the recommendations about keeping distance and wearing mouth guards in places where distance cannot be maintained, he says.
Photo: CAROLINA BYRMO
Johan Styrud.
He criticizes the Prime Minister
Also in Stockholm, huge crowds gathered overnight to celebrate that the 2020 pandemic year, also called the 2020 ski year, was finally over. Johan Styrud, chief physician at Danderyd Hospital and president of the Stockholm Medical Association, does not stop to think about it.
– I have seen the photos and I am terrified that you behave this way. You shouldn’t encounter bigger crowds now, but only those you live with. I think people standing in the crowd don’t understand how dangerous this disease is, he says.
Johan Styrud says that he and his colleagues at Danderyd Hospital are now working to the limit of their strength and ability. He is critical of the fact that Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has been involved in the Christmas trade, despite his own urges.
– It depresses me that you as a politician do not do what you say. It’s hard to tell, but I think it may have had some effect, says Styrud.
Want to see a crowd ban?
On January 8, the Riksdag will vote on the new pandemic law. Johan Styrud believes that he should have already been in his place. Then it would have been possible to shut down shopping malls to stop shopping crowds and ban large crowds until New Year’s Eve, something the chief physician had wanted to see.
– It would have been necessary a long time ago, but better late than never.
Right now, medical care is stagnant in the number of newly infected and hospitalized. But in the worst case, the curves start to point up again when the effect of our Christmas and New Years celebrations is seen in two, three weeks, believes Johan Styrud.
– But I’m happy to be wrong.
Published:
