Sweden failed to protect care home residents from the coronavirus and the government is to blame – although other individual agencies and authorities bear responsibility – according to the country’s coronavirus commission’s first report.

The government bears the overall responsibility for failure to address structural shortcomings.

What’s the coronavirus commission?                                                                                                                                                        

Sweden appointed a panel to investigate the response to the coronavirus and evaluate the response from the government and other authorities.

It is headed by Mats Melin, an attorney who formerly served on Sweden’s top court for administrative cases.

On Tuesday, their first report was presented, which looks specifically at the handling of the pandemic in the elderly care sector. A final report, covering multiple aspects of the approach, is expected by Febr. 2022.

Key finding: Sweden failed to protect the elderly

The 300-page report is summed up like this in the English version:

“Apart from the general spread of the virus in society, the factor that has had the greatest impact on the number of cases of illness and deaths from Covid-19 in Swedish residential care is structural shortcomings that have been well-known for a long time. These shortcomings have led to residential care being unprepared and ill-equipped to handle a pandemic. Staff employed in the elderly care sector were largely left by themselves to tackle the crisis.”