Brazil patient dies of Covid on hospital floor due to health collapse

From one recording to another, Brazil finished two weeks as the country with the highest number of daily deaths. It has overtaken the United States, as well as the partners of the European Union. However, daily per million inhabitants, France with 401 people infected per day and per million inhabitants, surpasses Brazil with 338 infected. This sad competition for supremacy indicates, both in one country and another, the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

Escalating South American Giant Deaths Recognizes Two Causes. One is the emergence of new, more contaminating and deadly strains of the virus. But the second factor lies in the national leadership of the pandemic. Jair Bolsonaro’s government is questioned because it has not coordinated, since the start of Covid-19, actions to stop the epidemic. Today, the 27 Brazilian states are experiencing a tragic situation with a lack of essential supplies and oxygen in public and private hospital systems.

Y lVaccination is advancing too slowly for this second wave with the mutant virus. Although in number of doses applied, it is the fifth country, it falls to 58th place in the ranking when the proportion per 100 inhabitants is established: vaccination only covers 34% of the population.

Vaccination is too slow for this second wave with the mutant virus

It is this frantic evolution that has forced the vast majority of state governments (with 27 in total) apply severe measures to restrict traffic. Rio de Janeiro, for example, has banned the use of its beautiful beaches since yesterday. Cariocas and tourists should even refrain from parking their cars near the sea. There are many reasons for limiting the presence of people in the street as much as possible. The collapse of the hospital crosses Brazil from north to south and from east to west; but it is very badly suffered in the northeastern states. In Teresina, capital of Piauí, a patient had to be treated by the guard on the hospital floor, for lack of beds. He presented a picture of acute respiratory distress. The nurses tried to revive him. “We did six cycles of CPR. Unfortunately, we could not prevent his death, ”said one of the professionals.

It was this collapsed health situation that forced state governments to decide on the total closure of stores, shopping centers, restaurants and bars. And to avoid “clandestine” parties, which are proliferating these days among young people in big cities, governments, as in São Paulo and Bahia, They have imposed a nighttime curfew that runs from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

Bolsonaro was irritated by this decision. He contends that, constitutionally, is the only one authorized to take such an exception in a democracy. Protected by this standard, he began the legal battle against the governors of Bahia, the Federal District and Rio Grande do Sul. He presented, as head of state, a trial before the Supreme Court which forces the governors to back down. And it requires, in it, that justice establish as a condition of the closure of non-essential activities the prior approval of an act of Congress.

According to the president, his initiative before the Supreme Federal Court (STF) responded to the need to avoid “abuses” such as “a state of siege”. He said in his Thursday afternoon video conference that “this is direct action against the unconstitutionality of the measures”, which in fact affects three governors, despite the fact that many other colleagues have adopted the same guidelines . For Rui Costa, from Bahia, “the president reaffirms with his position, with his conduct, that he is the main ally of the coronavirus in Brazil. And it is the main manager of the wave of deaths that is raging across the country.

Bolsonaro “despises the severity of the pandemic when he could have put all this energy into helping it,” said Eduardo Leite

For Eduardo Leite, a social democratic politician who rules Rio Grande do Sul, Bolsonaro “despises the gravity of the pandemic when he could have put all this energy to help him, for example, to obtain the necessary vaccines for the whole population ”. Lete asked himself, “What is this, Mr. President?” The population does not need the confrontation and the conflict that you have just created ”.

In the morning of this Friday, during his regular meeting with the supporters who were waiting for him at the gates of the Palacio da Alvorada (the official residence), Bolsonaro said: “Governors and mayors usurp the Constitution by means of decrees. And so, they take away the right of people to come and go. This only applies to the state of siege, to the state of defense. For that, Congress and I must be heard ”. Added that “The curfew is reserved for dictatorial countries”. The governors, insisted the president, “apply legislation such as a state of siege, which is not enough for me to enact it. Congress must authorize it ”.

*Author from Brazil 7 days. From San Pablo.