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Swedish physician John Litell on rampant infection
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MINNEAPOLIS. The first corona wave mainly affected coastal cities in the US, but now the virus infection is shining inland as well.
Swedish physician John Litell, 43, who works on the front lines in the fast-paced state of Minnesota, puts new hope in Biden and saw Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
-Everything he has done is contrary to what should be done in a crisis, he says.
Health professionals refill their coffee cups and eat cereal in front of the TV in the staff dining room. Intensive care physician John Litell sits at one of the wooden tables and adjusts the mouth guard. There are still a couple of hours left before the next night shift begins at Abbott Northwestern Hospital here in Minneapolis.
– The number of hospitalized and seriously ill patients is higher than ever during the pandemic. It feels very heavy. I’m worried that the darkest period is ahead, he says.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
Swede John Litell works as a doctor in Minneapolis.
Its IVA room, a couple of corridors away, is the final destination for the sickest COVID patients in the region. For a couple of weeks, the beds have almost always been full.
– We have zero to two places available daily, which means that we can no longer receive everyone. It is difficult to be forced to tell the hospitals that want to send their patients here that we have a twelve hour wait time. Or we have to say a resounding no, says John Litell.
Crowded hospitals
Up close, see how the crisis is intensifying in the United States. In the past two months, the spread of the infection has skyrocketed again, with overcrowded hospitals, exhausted health workers and prolonged social closures, just like this spring.
Even then, he and his colleagues prepared. They closely followed developments at the epicenter of the crisis in New York and other coastal metropolises in Washington and California.
Absolute emergency never came to Minnesota in the same way.
But now the rope is drowned.
At the end of November, Minnesota, a state with 5.6 million residents, had an average of 6,500 covid cases a day. Currently, the state has around 1,100 infected per million people, according to the Covid Exit Strategy. To compare with New York that today has 418 per million.
– The spread of the infection has really spread to the state. We let go of the restrictions we had this summer. I also think it’s because we’re surrounded by states that lean toward Trump on the political spectrum, which means: fewer restrictions, more conspiracy theories, and they take him less seriously. Although Minnesota has a better plan, the virus does not consider state lines. Now we see the consequences of that, says John Litell.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
The number of people admitted to Abbott Northwestern is higher now than before during the pandemic.
In John Litell’s ward, they are preparing an emergency plan that will allow them to expand from 60 to 130 VAT places, through the temporary use of other rooms in the hospital. But the problem is not only the lack of space.
– We must also have doctors and nurses. We have had major staff problems when many of us get sick or have family members who get sick. I am very concerned that our resources will not be sufficient this winter and that patients will eventually die from it, he says.
“Sweden a bat”
John Litell grew up in Stockholm and has returned there to study and work. That Sweden has become a bat in the debate over the crown in the US It has been crazy to follow from the inside, he says. As a Swede abroad, he has received many questions from his medical colleagues about the Scandinavian strategy, which contrasts with the American “lockdowns” and mouth guards.
– We have debated a lot, what is the most effective. But now it feels more like a crisis situation across America, which is why distance and mouth protection are no longer such a big discussion. Everyone has to do everything they can.
He thinks that it is problematic that the Americans have politicized the management of the crown during the election year. Mouth guards have become a red carpet for many Republicans, who say closed restaurants, schools and businesses cripple the economy and restrict individual freedom.
Democrats have rather emphasized the importance of the researchers’ recommendations, while social distancing and oral protection have been more of a sign of solidarity.
Photo: Emelie Svensson
John Litell hopes Joe Biden can improve the crown situation in the United States.
The deep political divide is primarily due to the Trump administration, according to John Litell, who believes Trump has undermined experts and incited conflict.
– It has caused the deaths of more Americans, more than they could have done if we had a coordinated scientific management of the pandemic. Politicization causes people here to feel great anxiety and confusion, and creates conflict in the country, in the midst of a crisis. It is tragic and frustrating for us that on a daily basis we try to care for patients who become seriously ill due to political debate.
Hope for Biden
When Donald Trump himself fell ill with covid-19 just over a month before the election, John Litell and his colleagues hoped that the president would begin to show humility and empathy. Instead, Trump said people should not fear the virus and “not let it dominate their lives.”
– Your problem reduction only increased. It was a huge disappointment and it is destructive to everything we try to do. It has made all the conspiracy theories explode completely, says Litell.
With Democrat Joe Biden as incoming president, he hopes for a coordinated plan at the national level, rather than leaving it up to each individual state governor.
Biden has promised to introduce national oral protection regulations after he moved into the White House in January, but says he wants to avoid a national shutdown in the end.
This, combined with a vaccine on the way, means that John Litell, after all, sees a glow on the horizon. Though dark weeks await in Minnesota.
– Honestly, it would be difficult to handle it worse than it has been handled so far. Sure, it will be difficult anyway, but Biden will also dare to say that it is difficult and he will be honest. Show empathy. It is extremely important and exactly what we need right now.
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