[belorn]

I suspect that what went wrong with the elder care was a series of mishandling between the government emergency system and the privatized elder care system. Since the cold war Sweden has in contrast to many of the other Nordic countries reduces the stockpile of emergency supplies, possible as a result of leaning a bit much on the US for emergency situations. When the pandemic hit, supplies got depleted fast and the remaining items got reserved for the health staff of hospitals and clinics. The elder care, being mostly operated by for-profit companies, had neither the resources nor will to supply safety gear, training and extra time to their personal. In addition many of the workers got sick which further reduced the time each remaining employee had with the elderly in care. It was only quite later into the pandemic that the situation got so much out of hand that the government started to step in, but which was too little too late.

Tegnell should carry the blame for that, through its a bit complicated. The responsibility for having emergency supply sits on a different government agency, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency that is organised under the Ministry of Justice. The privatization of the elder care was also not tagnells decision but rather a political decision a decade or two ago. Still Tegnell should have acted faster regardless which is the primary critique being brought up in the current review over the handling of the pandemic.