Bolsonaro’s attitude on Covid sparks tragedy and skepticism in Brazil

Three Brazilian senators The victims of Covid-19 have already died. The third of them, Major Olímpio, 58, on Thursday 19. Parliamentarians make up the list of more than 290 thousand Brazilians died for the disease President Jair Bolsonaro called “fluzinha” at the start of the pandemic.

Now He also doubts the statistics and information on saturated ICUs. “It seems that (in Brazil) you only die of covidHe said Thursday. The image of the disease is already affecting sectors of the economy and on Friday, the automaker Volkswagen announced the suspension of its activities.

In one of his last speeches, Olímpio criticized the “Criminal denial” of the Brazilian government in the face of the severity of the coronavirus. The senator had supported the election of Bolsonaro, participated in political acts against the closure of trade due to the pandemic and then left the president.

Brazil finished on Friday 19, two weeks as the country with the most daily deaths by covid-19 worldwide, according to data from Our world in data. It left the United States behind in that tragic March 5 ranking, and since Tuesday March 16, it has also surpassed all of North America and the European Union. Measured in the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic, the United States has overtaken Brazil, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

But according to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a Brazilian scientific reference, the country is living its “Worst and historic collapse in health”. And the situation will get worse, depending on what this entity projects.

Contrary to Bolsonaro’s views, in addition to being concerned about the increase in cases and the lack of beds, the governments of the city of Rio de Janeiro, the city and state of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, for example, have applied restrictive measures. The prefect of Rio, Eduardo Paes, has decreed for this weekend the prohibition to be on the sand of the beaches.

Paes acknowledged that the possibility of contagion is lower outside, but that it is important to let people know that life is not normal today. For many Cariocas not going to the beach is very abnormal. This week the beaches they were full like the previous days.

At the end of January, in a few days that I spent in my city, the arenas were filled with people. Surf, volleyball, Mate leão and coconut water. The river of always. Sometimes it was possible to doubt that we were in a pandemic. And more they weren’t wearing masks in the points of the South zone, the richest of the city, or in the West zone, where there are also beaches and many shops. The BRT collectives, which link Barra da Tijuca to Pedra de Guaratiba, were so full that sometimes the doors were left open. It is difficult to ask for a social distance from the large reaches of the Brazilian population.

“People are dying. We have to put an end to this. What I’m asking is that people stay home, whenever possible, ”Paes said. Governors seek to limit the progress of the cursed virus also with restrictions and calls that include curfew within a certain time slot to avoid crowds.

Opposed to these initiatives which in his vision would affect the economy, Bolsonaro appealed on Thursday at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to prevent restrictive measures imposed in the Federal District, Bahia and Rio Grande do Sul. The argument he presented was that only the president, with the approval of the National Congress, can impose restrictions and that the limitations they look like a “state of siege”.

This same reference to “the state of siege” led STF president Luiz Fux to phone Bolsonaro to find out if the measure was in his plans. President rejection that the exceptional diet is on your radar.

In addition to health stress, Brazil is experiencing a permanent political struggle, a tension that involves the foundations of democracy and the constitution. It is a whirlwind with several fronts. Popular blogger Felipe Neto called the president ‘genocidal’ and almost did explain yourself to justice. A group of lawyers has therefore created the movement “cala a boca já morreu” (that is to say that the mouth is alive and free) in defense of those who are attacked by criticism of the president or a other public authority.

The fourth Minister of Health in the current government, cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga, predicts visit hospitals to personally check whether the ICUs – intensive care units – are full and people die from covid, according to the chronicler of Or balloon, Lauro Jardim.

The skepticism This is another factor that has gained in strength in the current Brazilian reality. The father of a friend from Rio was vaccinated with the second dose of the vaccine against the virus. Her nephew asked the nurse for permission to film the big moment on his cell phone. The nurse said there was no problem and that she even preferred it to be filmed. In the end, it was therefore proven that he had vaccinated one more person. Watching the video, my friend reacted, “I don’t see any liquid in the syringe”. And he called his nephew to confirm it. The nephew guaranteed that yes, that there was liquid in the syringe and that his grandfather – my friend’s father – had been vaccinated.

The worst situation was experienced by cardiologist Ludhmila Hajjar. Invited by Bolsonaro to become Minister of Health in place of Army General Eduardo Pazuello, she rejected the proposal. He said he met the president thinking “there would be a paradigm shift” in the face of the pandemic. Hajjar, who advocates for the use of masks, social distancing and isolation, argued he was wrong after the meeting.

The doctor also said they had tried invade the hotel where he was in Brasilia and the president answered him – “part of the face” (almost saying “normal”). “Without hotel security, I don’t know what would have happened,” he said. The hotel rejected its version and says that nothing “abnormal” had happened during the days the doctor was there. Hajjar has been criticized by the “bolsominios” (Bolsonaro fans) and by the left.

In this sea of ​​bad news, the investigation Technical sheet released on Friday, pointed out that Brazil’s pessimism about the economy is record since the government of former president Dilma Rousseff. Today 65% of Brazilians are pessimisticsays the study.

On Friday the 19th, the Volkswagen company reported that suspend production from Wednesday 24 until April 12, due to the worsening pandemic in Brazil. Thirty percent of Brazilians approve of Bolsonaro government and 24% consider it regular, poll finds XP / Ipespe.

The rejection is 45%. Those who support him continue to reject the idea of ​​a government of the PT or “the Communists”, as they say. “Cute family,” posted a user on Facebook. “This is Brazil that I want,” he said alongside a photo of the president and his wife.

In the health sector, Brazil bought last week 138 million Pfizer vaccines and Janssen starts to arrive from april and until September. This month seems far away in this pandemic which has already killed so many people. Fathers, mothers, children, uncles, grandparents, politicians, footballers and journalists. An international report released last week by the Brazilian Media, of Journalists and Cia, he pointed out that Brazil overtook Peru as the country with the most deaths from Covid-19 in the world.

Correspondent in Brazil.

DS