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Sweden needs to consider slightly longer term public health when deciding which restrictions should prevail.
That’s the opinion of Johnny Ludvigsson, professor of pediatrics at Linköping University.
– Of course, every death is sad, but I want to say that you have to put it in some proportion, he tells Aftonbladet.
The effects of the corona strategy on public health have not had much space in the Swedish debate, says Johnny Ludvigsson, a professor of pediatrics at Linköping University, who earlier this year wrote a debate article in Läkartidningen, where he believes that setting the number of deaths with covid-19 is misleading:
“The corona pandemic has had incalculable consequences with many deaths, a heavy health care burden, severe health care debt, and a weak economy. When it comes to taking action and choosing a strategy, there are good reasons not to count the number of deaths diagnosed with COVID-19 in the short term, regardless of the cause of death. Public health, even for older people before death, including the risk of loss of quality of life, must be given greater weight, ”wrote Ludvigsson.
“He inflated the account”
A few months later, he sticks to his opinion and develops the criticism:
– I think Sweden has had one of the most reasonable models and I really think it has been a relatively good way to handle this, but I also think that this calculation of the number of deaths has been inflated too much, especially in the media, he tells Aftonbladet and continues:
– If it had not been done, I think that society would have been less paralyzed, which would have affected both the economy and people more positively since we probably would have had less long-term effects, such as people not seeking help now on time.
Photo: LASSE HEJDENBERG
Johnny Ludvigsson.
Will lead to higher mortality
Johnny Ludvigsson believes that fear of becoming infected or infecting others has drastically reduced the number of people who sought care or examined themselves for possible illnesses.
– It is worrying that people have not dared to apply, for example, because of cancer, cardiovascular disease or mental problems, he says and believes that it will be much later that you will see what the long-term effects will be.
– But it can be expected that it will lead to higher mortality in other diseases, and that then it is other, much younger people who are affected.
“Misleading”
Despite the fact that Sweden has had a much softer strategy compared to more European countries that have made big closures, Johnny Ludvigsson points out that the decisions of the Western world affect not only its own inhabitants but also the rest of the world.
– A total shutdown of society in several countries has had dramatic effects on the class economy of the 1930s, which could kill many more than the virus itself. UNICEF estimates that around 80-90 million children in the world will end up in poverty and that millions of children will die before the age of five. Missed vaccines also affect millions of children.
– Around 1.5 million people die from tuberculosis each year, but no one is closing the world for it. And comparing the dead to Norway and Finland that we face and having feelings of guilt is just misleading and doesn’t make us think more broadly.
“He would probably die later”
Therefore, Ludvigsson believes that the way the Western world counts the death toll is misleading and has enormous consequences.
– Of course, every death is sad, but I want to say that you have to put it in some proportion. About 85 percent of those who died in Sweden have also had another illness, and several of those who died this spring likely would have died by the end of this year, as the death rate between July and October was lower than average. during the years 2015-2019. , says and continues:
– There is a reason why I think something too dramatic is done with the death toll during the corona pandemic. Compare what could happen if we have a higher death rate among younger people through more heart attacks, late diagnosed cancers, or more depression that can lead to suicide.
Get out of the way a bit
In other respects, Johnny Ludvigsson believes that Sweden has taken certain measures a little too late.
– They have gotten a bit out of date, but I think it is because it is the politicians who govern in the first place and not public health. I agree that we must reduce the spread of the infection so that medical care is not overloaded, but I hope that the restrictions can be eased a bit soon and made more proportionate.
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