The old town was busy on Monday afternoon, the first day of a new phase of large-scale reopening of Brazil’s largest city.
Shoppers were on the streets and in stores, sellers were pushing watermelon carts and other wares, and everything around them were sounds of human activity, not back to pre-pandemic levels, but a buzz that has been absent in many of the world’s cities. .
Inside a bank, people lined up with space around them, but in the smallest stores and crowded streets there was no way to maintain social distance. The sight of a merchant pointing a thermometer at a customer’s forehead was rare, and while many wore masks, an alarming number did not.
No wonder, given the pandemic politics of the man in charge of Brazil.
However, as a testament to Bolsonaro’s persuasive power in the 30% of the population that polls still remain loyal to him, a supporter I met was convinced that the coronavirus is nothing.
“It could exist,” said activist Mario Schwartzmann. “But if it exists, it is weak.”
That is the attitude that makes Natalia Pasternak cringe. The microbiologist and president of the Institute of Question Sciences in São Paulo was forceful in her evaluation. “It’s crazy. Science is being ignored in this government like never before,” he said.
After Bolsonaro fired his health minister and the replacement stopped working in a month, a loyal general with no public health experience is now in charge of Brazil’s pandemic response.
And after Donald Trump praised hydroxychloroquine, Bolsonaro ordered his military to stock millions of doses and ordered that the controversial malaria drug be distributed in public clinics. “Even if there are no side effects, that’s the money you could go to buy ventilators and diagnostic test kits,” he said. And now an already overloaded health system is preparing for a wave of patients who will need intensive care.
“This is really scary because we are talking about opening churches, schools, pubs and restaurants,” said Pasternak. These are places where people gather, which is exactly what we are trying to avoid. And then these people aren’t even going to wear masks. “
The lower house of Congress passed rules for the mandatory use of masks in churches, schools, shops and prisons, but Bolsanaro vetoed essential parts of them.
Pasternak now fears that Brazil’s massive public health system may be overwhelmed.
“We have never reached the situation they reached in Italy, where the doctor is forced to choose the person who receives the ventilator,” he said.
“I hope we never get to that, but I’m afraid we could.”
.
