It only took a few weeks in the Spring of 2020 to transform me from a world traveller of continents and oceans to an over 70 year old male of the species commonly referred to in Sweden as a risk group. It´s not that you wouldn´t recognize me on the street but gone are the days when I would be wearing a sun hat, brandishing a ticket to some far away place and navigating a suitcase pragmatically marked for easy recognition amongst its kind. Today any chance encounter would more likely than not be on one of our daily walks or on one of our weekly visits to collect our pre-ordered groceries from the supermarket. Strategically placed steel lockers and a computer screen in their midst allow us to enter our telephone number and the screen will reply by revealing which locker/s to open. After collecting our bags a short ceremony of disinfectant handwashing will follow. Thus our weekly shopping has been transformed from leisurely browsing in the shops to a more direct approach of ordering what is needed via the internet. Not exactly soul destroying in itself just boring. Picking up the goods is usualy done without a hitch and anybody coming too close usually responds to a not to be mistaken look saying, ”keep your distance.” There is a whiff of the wild animal in this type of behaviour, an attitude often accompanied by furtive or at times even fearful looks. I think most people have experienced the anxiety of walking on dimly lit streets late at night with dangers unseen possibly lurking in the shadows. These dimly lit streets with their attributes have now taken over our daily lives with an equal amount of anxiety.
Shopping other than groceries has nudged us even further onto the internet coupled to a home delivery which is fine in most cases. There are a number of shops that also offer a ”sit in the car and we will come out with the goods you ordered on the internet.” Tremendous service, heightening our awareness of what it must have been like being a leper in the Middle Ages. An alternative to all of the above shopping is kindly asking one´s daughters to purchase this or that item. From feeling like a leper the mood changes to decrepit old man/woman at their last gasp. The daughter shopping also entails now buying beer and other delicacies in a Swedish state licquor store. The prices there are enough to encourage anyone to become teetotal (which is the big idea) or like me spend a delightful long weekend somewhere in Schleswig Holstein and fill the car with booze on the way back, an option at present not available.
All in all, despite a variety of recommendations by the health authorities life has gone on if not as before but to some degree of normality for those under 70. Businesses, schools, restaurants and shops have remained open albeit with varying degrees of social distancing. Tables apart, no serving at the bar, designated queue spots and anybody able to work from home does so. Wearing masks has really not caught on here, mainly I believe because the Swedish state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell points to the absence of scientific research proving their overall ability to protect against virus infection. He says there are other more important measures that can be undertaken to avoid becoming ill. Tegnell’s mantra over the past months has been the same. ”Keep your distance, stay at home if you are ill or have the slightest symptom of a cold coming on and if you are over 70 just stay at home alone or whoever you live with. In other words there has been no lockdown which apart from criticism that this has endangered people´s lives it also has the effect that some people are not taking the pandemic seriously enough, especially young people. This negligent attitude is exacerbated by encouraging data showing a considerable downturn in Corona related deaths and Corona infections in Sweden. Many people now feel that the virus has been defeated and are dropping their guard. Having closely followed British politics over the last couple of years I can safely say that there are a large number of very stupid people out there. I hate to disappoint any red, white and blue patriots but must add that even in this respect Brits are not exceptional.