Open letter to prime minister of Sweden
Dear prime minister,
My name is Suman Baral. I am from Nepal and I have been living in Sweden since 2009. I am writing this open letter because I am extremely worried about the situation in Sweden because of Corona virus (Covid-19). Firstly, I want to apologize to you and Swedish people if any of my words hurt your sentiments. However, I want to make it clear that I have uttermost respect for Sweden and Swedish people. I always feel lucky that I got a chance to complete my Bachelor and Master degree from reputed Swedish universities and got an opportunity to work in Sweden. So, I treat Sweden as my second home and I do not have any intention to hurt Sweden.
I am a healthy person at my early 30s. Also, I am at leave from my work now. So, I am not writing this letter because I am in high risk as I do not belong to the risky group of sick and elderly people. I do know that, about 90% of the people with Corona virus will have just mild symptoms like seasonal flu and it recovers by itself. However, I am deeply worried for thousands of sick and elderly people in Sweden and elsewhere. If it spreads more, tens of thousands of vulnerable group can be at high risk in Sweden. Yes, Sweden has taken some steps such as closing high schools and universities, restricting oversees travels and so on but it seems insufficient when we analyse the critical situations in China, Italy, Spain and many other countries.
Dear prime minister, every country including Sweden knew that Corona virus might arrive sooner or later. Sufficient diagnostic kits and necessary equipment for health workers should have been made ready. Many countries including Sweden could have done more to prevent the spread of Corona virus but none of them learnt from the suffering in China. Instead, some countries wasted time in criticizing and laughing at the situations in China. Mask can be vital at reducing the spread of virus but I haven’t seen any ordinary people wearing it in Sweden. However, we even do not have time to regret for not doing enough. The focus should be in stopping the spread of virus because that’s the only medicine until vaccine is available.
Most of the European and Asian countries have implemented stricter measures such as lockdown. China succeeded to stop rapid spread by choosing lockdown approach. Similarly, Singapore, South Korea and many other countries are gaining significant success in limiting the spread with high number of suspected tests. The World Health Organisation has urged countries to do enough tests for possible cases. It is really important to isolate those who tests positive and find out who they have been in contact with within two days before they developed symptoms and test those people too. So, prioritizing the test for people with severe symptoms or who belong to a risk group is not enough as other people who are not in a risk group can spread the virus to other people who are at risk group unknowingly. Also, only urging people who has symptoms to practice social distancing without regulating their movements is not sufficient. Unfortunately, enough tests are not being carried out in Sweden due to lack of resources and it seems people haven’t considered the virus as dangerous yet.
There are some people who argues for ‘herd immunity’ and insists that people will develop the immunity power themselves to fight against Corona virus and those who recovered will never get infected again. Anyone who has followed the outbreak of virus knows that herd immunity approach will not work as it is not working in China, Italy, Spain and other nations. Also, there are some news that some people has tested positive for Corona virus twice. Doctors and scientists are still researching the nature of Covid-19 to find out if one could get re- infected or not, if virus can contaminate air or not and so on. Before we know more, assumption and experiments should not be a key for decision making. I know that Sweden is very popular for its innovations such as pacemaker, Zipper, three-point seat belt, adjustable wrench, Bluetooth, skype and so on. I wish Sweden to be the first country to develop a vaccine against Corona very soon that could save life of tens of thousands of people around the globe. So, I hope and pray Sweden is not following the so called ‘herd immunity’ approach because this is not the right time to do experiment by risking the life of thousands of Swedish.
It reminds me one of the saying of Joseph Stalin, ex-ruler of Soviet Union “One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic”. It seems Swedish government is convinced that their strategy seems to be working as number of seriously ill and deaths hasn’t spiked exponentially, but it is still linear. It rhymes well with what Stalin said as mentioned above, the Swedish government is focusing mainly on statistics. But government should use approach of “even a single life matters” and do the necessary measures learned from other countries. Sweden should focus on saving as many lives as possible and stop it from getting worse. Closing everything except emergency services such as hospitals, police office, fire services, pharmacy, food industries, groceries, telecommunications, and so on and limiting the movement of people might help to stop the spread of virus in Sweden too.
It hurts when I read some satires such as “Sweden wants to reduce the financial costs of health care and pensions and let sick and elderly people die”, “Sweden do not want to damage its economy for the disease which is mainly dangerous for old and sick people” in social media for the poor handling of Corona virus in Sweden. I know these predictions are not true but many people are confused why Sweden is not taking virus seriously. This is high time to implement stricter approaches. The life of thousands of people is and should be more important than economy.
Fortunately, Sweden has not faced war or major crisis for decades. So, Swedish people are not familiar with lockdown. Also, some individuals might claim about their human rights of right to assembly, freedom of movement and so on. However, right to life of thousands of people is more important than freedom of movement. So, general public should be convinced and stricter measures should be used if needed to keep people at home as much as possible for at least 2 weeks. Government should help sick and elderly people if they are in need of groceries or medicines during their isolation period. During this time, people with infections can be identified, isolated and treated. This is the only solutions world has today.
Dear prime minister, I know that the public health agency in Sweden suggested that the stricter approach such as lockdown is not necessary in Sweden. I hope and wish that their strategy can help to reduce spread. However, the reality shows that it hasn’t helped and the Corona cases is increasing rapidly and is more likely to increase in Sweden. The countries which have chosen lockdown approach are not foolish. Why Sweden is not learning from China, Italy, Spain and rest of the sufferers? Isn’t it more appropriate to choose stricter approaches before tens of thousands of people get infected and thousands of people die in Sweden?
India has just more than 637 active cases and 13 deaths. Nepal has only 2 active case and no deaths until now. Also, both countries are in less advantageous position economically than Sweden but decided to choose lockdown approach to stop spreading virus. On the other hand, Sweden has more than 2,448 active cases with 62 deaths. There are already more than 342,508 active cases and 21,566 deaths around the globe. Sweden’s strategy differs from other European nations. Even the closest neighboring country Denmark has stricter approaches than Sweden and countries like United Kingdom and Germany have banned meetings of more than two people. Unfortunately, the attitude of Swedish government is as if everything is in control but it is not. I am not in a position to categorize officials of public health agency of Sweden as ‘unintelligent’ even though they are not learning from the experience in Italy, Spain, and United States. Some authorities in Sweden said that “Sweden is an expert driven country, which is why it has different approach than Denmark and other countries choosing stricter approach.” I am neither against nor for expert or politics driven country. However, I assure you that it is not those officials but you will be the one to be held responsible as a prime minister for mishandling of Corona crisis in future.
There is one famous saying in English “Stupid people don’t learn. Average people learn from their own mistakes but brilliant people learn from the mistakes of others”. Dear prime minister, I kindly beg you to make brilliant decision by choosing stricter approach, increase the test for suspected cases and isolate those who tests positive to save thousands of sick and elderly people in Sweden.
Thank You,
Suman Baral
Malmo, Sweden
26th March 2020
