PerspectiveBrazil’s Losing Battle against COVID-19
The country entered the pandemic with some advantages. Because of President Jair Bolsonaro, it is squandering them. Social distancing is hard in poor neighborhoods, where people are packed together and have jobs without contracts or benefits. But the Economist writers that what makes social distancing harder is that Brazil’s populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, scoffs at the medical establishment and its advice. He has quarreled with and lost two health ministers since the crisis began. He shows up at weekly protests in Brasília, the capital, against quarantines.
Brazil entered the pandemic with strengths, but COVID-19, more contagious than H1N1, also exploits Brazil’s weaknesses. Social distancing is hard in poor neighborhoods, where people are packed together and have jobs without contracts or benefits.
The Economist writes that what makes social distancing harder is that Brazil’s populist president, Jair Bolsonaro, scoffs at the medical establishment and its advice. He has quarreled with and lost two health ministers since the crisis began. “His attitude to COVID-19 resembles that of President Donald Trump: both tout hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug that is useless against COVID-19 and can be dangerous, according to a new study in the Lancet,” the Economist writes, adding:
Mr. Bolsonaro’s attitude causes more damage, however. Brazil’s federal system is more president-centered than America’s. To work well in a crisis, all levels of government must co-operate. Mr. Bolsonaro has turned [lockdown, face-mask rules, and social distancing into] wedge issues. He shows up at weekly protests in Brasília, the capital, against quarantines.
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His presidency is consumed by melodrama. In a two-hour video of a cabinet meeting released by the country’s Supreme Court and watched by millions of Brazilians, he gave himself over to unhinged and profanity-filled rants against police investigations of his sons but had little to say about protecting citizens from the pandemic. Widespread testing, a precondition for easing lockdowns safely, is not happening. By May 26th Brazil had processed fewer than 500,000 tests, just a tenth of the number acquired by the health ministry. Its testing rate is far lower than that of European countries and the United States.
