Infection increases – Gotland hardest hit

Last week, week 31, 4,593 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Sweden, according to statistics from the Swedish Public Health Agency.

That is, the infection in the country increased for the fourth consecutive week.

The worst situation is now in Jutland – an area that during large parts of the pandemic has seen relatively low infection rates.

Last week, 137 new cases were found on the island, according to Gotland region statistics. This corresponds to 227 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which is nearly five times more than the national average of 44 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

‘Deterioration of compliance’

Maria Amir, an infection control doctor for the Gotland region, said Gotland’s statistics are affected by the fact that the island’s population increases sharply during the summer. Even with this factor in mind, she says, the spread of infection has increased in recent weeks.

– I think this is a result of the fact that we saw a fairly marked deterioration in compliance with the advice and restrictions after the easing that took place around July 15, which also coincided with the holiday, says Maria Amir.

– We may have been in some sort of security, having seen low infection rates last summer. One might think that there is no great danger.

They are at risk of developing serious diseases

Maria Amir describes the state of vaccination in Gotland as good and says that there is still a great deal of willingness to vaccinate. But she still sees a risk that those who, despite being vaccinated, do not develop complete protection and that those who cannot be vaccinated for various reasons become seriously ill with covid-19.

We still have a big and important responsibility to really help reduce the spread of infection.

Last week, Visby Hospital went into booster mode due to the extremely high pressure on healthcare, which, however, is not directly linked to covid-19. On Monday, the readiness level for the regional private healthcare administration was raised.

– It’s high research pressure, a lot of them really need inpatient care.

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