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From: TT
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Photo: Johan Hallnäs
It is still mainly people over the age of 70 who die in covid-19. Stock Photography.
The number of people dying in covid-19 is increasing. In recent weeks, isolated deaths have begun to reappear among people under 60 years of age. But still, most of those who died have lived in nursing homes or received home care.
In mid-October the trend broke. Having had between 10 and 15 deaths per week, the average at that time is significantly higher: just over 60 deaths per week.
This is demonstrated by the statistics of the National Board of Health and Welfare on the deceased in covid-19, which are based on the death certificate that the authority has received.
Who is dying now? TT has taken a closer look at the figures from early October through last week.
So far, a total of 289 people have been registered as dead in covid-19 during the period. However, there is a lag in the statistics and the number of the last weeks will increase.
“Operated on the basis of caring for the elderly”
Of the dead, eight out of ten (232 people) were over 80 years old.
It is not possible to say how many were between 70 and 79 years old, since the number of deaths in this age group during most of the weeks studied was less than three. So the National Board of Health and Welfare does not report the figure because, according to the authority, there is a risk of revealing the identity of the people.
In the past two weeks, however, the number has risen and a total of 29 deaths have been recorded among 70-year-olds.
A large proportion, about eight in ten, of those over 70 who died during October and November lived in nursing homes or had home care, according to preliminary statistics from the National Board of Health and Welfare on deaths in these activities .
This is in line with the outcome of the first wave this spring, says Ingmar Skoog, professor and director of the Center for Aging and Health at the University of Gothenburg.
– It seems that deaths are still driven by caring for the elderly, he says.
It would also indicate that healthy people over 70 remain cautious, even though the special advice for the elderly was removed at the end of October, Ingmar Skoog says.
More under 60
In the past three weeks, there have also been a number of deaths among people under the age of 60 again, after that number was zero for much of the fall. However, these are so few people that the National Board of Health and Welfare does not report the number. Therefore, it is not clear which age groups are involved.
However, it is not surprising that the number of deaths is also increasing in groups other than the oldest, says Ingmar Skoog.
– The number of deaths in all groups is affected by further expansion of society, he says.
The highest death toll to date during the pandemic occurred in early April, when 737 people died in a week from covid-19.
We are still well below those levels. The highest figure in the fall so far is week 45, early November, with 106 deaths. The following week (that is, last week) the number was 64, but that number will have to be entered due to a delay.
Lower mortality?
Ingmar Skoog predicts that the death rate in covid-19 may be lower in autumn and winter than in spring.
– Since so much is run by nursing homes, it should be the case that enough nursing homes have learned so much about reducing the spread of infections that, in combination with us trying many more, it should affect a lower death rate, He says.
Access to protective equipment in elderly care is also significantly better now than in the first wave, he notes.
A total of 6,274 people have been found dead so far in covid-19 during the pandemic, according to the National Board of Health and Welfare. Nine out of ten were over 70 years old.
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