Sweden letter, April 20 2021

From Deborah: Some anecdotal stuff: during the first 2 spikes in infections, I heard through my family and friend groups of people getting sick. I have probably heard of 40+ people who have had the virus, and their experiences were pretty much as you’d expect - young people having very light symptoms, older people with co-morbidities having a harder time. My husband quite sick, but not hospitalized, his brother, his sister. 2 women I know went to hospital, one seriously ill, the virus went to her brain, both recovered. I’ve heard of 3 men, over 80, passing away from covid. With this last spike in infections, I’ve only heard of people in their 20s and 30s getting sick, including a colleague of my husband's, and my hairdresser - she said she only had a bad headache and tingling under her skin. Her husband was positive but asymptomatic. So I see these numbers, and think “who are these people getting so sick and being hospitalized during this spike? Why aren’t I hearing about them?”

It also seems crazy that we have a population of 10 million: let’s say 2 million are kids, around 1 million have had confirmed covid, so let’s say (conservatively) 2 million have had covid, 1.6 million have been vaccinated, so we are up around 5.6 million of the population that shouldn’t be feeling the effects of the virus, and still our numbers are still spiking? So frustrating. I don’t know what it all means, just musing out loud. :-)

There are a lot fewer covid tests being requested, and they hope this means that infections have reached a peak and will be on their way down soon. In any event, everyone hopes for a seasonal reprieve no later than end of May.

They said that it is 20-49 year olds that are spreading covid now. I still can't reconcile this with increased hospital & ICU numbers, but it matches my anecdotal information.

They continue to push back at the idea that the British variant is more deadly. It sounds like the virus itself isn’t more deadly, ie by causing more severe illness, but since it moving faster, it claims more victims that way.

.....They are also firmly against testing kids in school for covid - they said as a practical matter it is hard, you need parental consent, etc., but they have also really fence-posted schools and are trying to keep life there as normal as possible.

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