By Anirban Dey

Another day in paradise

A tropical cyclone ripped through two Indian states by the Bay of Bengal coastline in the third week of May with wind speed upwards of 185 kilometers per hour, devastating millions of lives – people were rendered homeless over the span of a few hours – their livelihoods, homes, access to basic amenities, securities and dreams all blown away to smithereens by the unforgiving gales. Compounded by the effects of the corona virus, this double whammy dealt a catastrophic blow to the states, both economically and ecologically. The implementation of social lockdowns in India to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which was done in three phases, also left a lot to be desired. Infrastructural lapses in healthcare, a flagrant disregard of reason and commonsense, and ill-conceived policies smacking of apathy and benign negligence made a humanitarian crisis of a virus contagion. Sitting a few thousand miles away, as I type this article, under the comforting, warm glow of the nightlamp in our spiffy Sveavägen apartment, I am more aware of the contrast in our situations like never before. I step outside on the balcony to get some air. An overbearing glumness hangs heavy on my mind. Not that me being there would have made much of a difference, but I would certainly feel more at ease, if I had been with my family during this time. This sentiment is echoed by other members of the Stockholm Dual Career Network (SDCN), as I find out. We are all away from our extended families, and, in addition to finding out ways to deal with this crisis ourselves, we are suddenly faced with concerns about the well-being of our family members, whom we have no way of reaching right now.

Laura Brembilla, who comes from Bergamo, the most-affected province in Italy, says that apart from fears of potentially losing her job in Stockholm, she is beset by concerns about the health of her parents who continue to live there. Sheetal Palav, from Mumbai (India), is also worried about her parents who live by themselves, and the detection of a virus-infected person in the same apartment complex that they are in, doesn’t really help things. Samantha Goos, who recently shifted to Stockholm, sums up our concerns – ‘The health of my family, back home in the Netherlands, and the impact of COVID-19 on the job market in Sweden. When your parents and loved ones are in another country, and you don’t know when you’ll be able to see them again, it can be quite stressful.’ 

Individual responsibility: the Swedish approach

We’ve been co-habiting with the corona virus for more than four months now – a pandemic which has plunged economies into depression and not only changed the way people interact socially, but the very way we lead our lives. For those of us staying in Stockholm, words such as smitta (infection), flockimmunitet (herd immunity), social distansering (social distancing), tvåmetersregel (two-metre rule) and other virus-related terminology have suddenly popped up in our everyday lives. And then very quickly, followed the flood of opinions and arguments that raged all over social media about the way the Swedish government chose to deal with the coronakrisen (corona crisis). The much-debated Swedish approach to the crisis, primarily hinged on two criticisms – a) the government has prioritized economy over health, and not issued a blanket lockdown order which in turn has consistently led to large gatherings in public spaces; b) the government has not done enough to protect the elderly and socio-economically vulnerable groups.   

One has to concede that there is merit in some of the arguments. The disproportionate number of people getting infected in lower income, immigrant communities in suburbs such as Rinkeby-Kista and Spånga-Tensta suggest lapses in communication of information. The Swedish government responded to this development swiftly – communication was ramped up and leaflets in multiple languages were put up in neighborhoods to spread awareness. The spread of infection and steep mortality rates among elderly people housed in care homes across Sweden has also raised concerns. After reports emerged of negligence and patients not getting access to oxygen treatment in care homes, the Swedish Healthcare Inspectorate (IVO) took cognizance of the deficiencies and launched a thorough investigation of the situation.

The human cost of COVID-19 aside, Sweden’s refusal to implement a total lockdown unlike its Scandinavian neighbors and many countries worldwide, has attracted brickbats as well. The Swedish society’s usual preference for a certain degree of social distancing in regular life, and a healthy population which is relatively low in number, are factors that have contributed to the ease of this decision. But as an expatriate myself, I find it interesting (yet entirely understandable) that most of the concerns seem to come from within the international community. Laura’s initial reaction was skeptical as well – ‘At first I was really worried about the Swedish strategy; coming from one of the most affected cities in Italy I thought it would have not been enough to curb the spread of the virus since they imposed largely voluntary measures without opting for a lockdown.’

An overwhelming majority of the Swedish population (across all age groups), on the other hand, display a steadfast belief in governmental agencies. This, I understand, is a relationship of reciprocal trust fostered between the regering (government) and the folket (people), a collaboration that is woven into the socio-cultural fabric of the Swedish society. This is what has enabled the government to make a distinction between föreskrifter (rules, binding in nature) and allmänna råd (common advice, entirely voluntary), and issue recommendations instead of heavy-handed strictures. Swedes have, of their own accord, celebrated Easter at home, reduced regular outdoor social activities (well, mostly!), been mindful of maintaining the two-meter rule in public places, dispensed with their summer vacation plans, while passengers using public transport have trickled down to an ebb with most people working from home. For those of us who come from countries where the government and the people don’t exactly share this symbiotic equation are naturally perplexed by the Swedish approach. Peng Wu, an SDCN member from New York City humorously quips, ‘I feel like the virus was dealt with in the quintessential lagom Swedish way.’ 

Life in the times of corona

Compared to how the corona crisis has been tackled in a lot of countries around the world, most SDCN members including myself feel relatively secure in Sweden. Sure, we could go on debating endlessly about the effectiveness of the Swedish approach, but that will be determined in the months ahead. As of now, we are thankful for Sweden’s robust commitment to democratic values which gives us the freedom to voice our opinions freely and the constitutional primacy of the freedom of movement which allows us to go about our lives (albeit with a few commonsensical riders). The fact that our access to essential commodities has not been curtailed and we can still enjoy eating out or going for a walk in an adjacent park, is rather liberating. Sheetal agrees – ‘Yes, I feel much more secure and at ease. I can trust the people around me (with respect to whoever I have come in contact with) taking precautions in their own capacity to ensure social distancing.’ Peng worries about the situation in his hometown New York City, but is happy with the safety that Sweden provides his family – ‘I feel Sweden is generally safe for me and my family, but it is very much because of our privileged position. We live outside of the city center in a more sparsely populated neighborhood. My wife has a job that she can quite easily do from home and a supportive company that enables her to do that. We have a car so we can avoid public transit if necessary. Our Internet is quite good so we can keep ourselves connected to family and friends as much as we need, etc. A lot of this would not be the case if we lived back in NYC.’ It’s no wonder that an internal survey conducted by SDCN found that 76% of the members plan to continue living in Sweden in the near future.