The death toll comes less than five months after Brazil recorded its first Covid-19-related death.
The ministry said 100,477 people had lost their lives and 3,012,412 had been infected. In the last 24 hours, 905 people have died from Covid-19.
The day was marked by demonstrations of solidarity with the families of the victims and critics of the federal government. Many Twitter users tagged their posts with the hashtag # 100thousanddeaths. In Rio de Janeiro, the Rio of Peace NGO placed one hundred crosses in the sand and had a poster ask, “Why are we the second in number dead?”
When cases began to grow in March, and state officials began to act to contain the spread, Bolsonaro argued that the economy could not be sacrificed for the sake of public health.
He criticized unpopular quarantine and shelter-in-place measures, pinching supporters at gatherings without a face mask, while encouraging people to continue working and promoting the unproven drug chloroquine as a cure.
Bolsonaro clashed with his health ministers, losing two in a span of a month and electing a military general with no background in medicine or public health to take over the role.
Bolsonaro tested positive for the virus in July because cases in the country skyrocketed, and the health care system in several states was stretched to the limit.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro said on Facebook Live: “The number [of Covid-19 deaths] reached 100,000. We will continue with life and look for a way to get away from this problem, “he said
However, moving on with life has not been easy for Daniel Gustavo Veloso, a 34-year-old businessman who lost his father to Covid-19.
“You do not know how painful it is to come into the hospital and see your father in a black ash bag, with just his face out,” Veloso told CNN.
Veloso’s father, Victor Manuel Veloso Mendez, lived in Caxias do Sul, a rural town in the Rio Grande do Sul State, one of the current offenders of the coronavirus in Brazil. Despite old age and suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, Victor did not want to use a mask.
According to Veloso, Victor was an avid Bolsonaro follower. “He used to say things like ‘the virus will not attack me, it does not exist, it is something made by the media, by the communists. God will help me, it’s just a little flu,'” Veloso said.
When his father realized the severity of the disease, it was too late. “When he arrived at the medical unit, his oxygenation was already very low,” Veloso said. “He cried my mother desperately to cry and begged ‘do not let me, do not let me die.’ It was the last contact we had with him. “
Victor was intubated and died nine days later, on June 19, at the age of 64.
The psychology of the pandemic is important in Brazil. According to Gisele Gus Manfro, a psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry in Porto Alegre, the way the dead are presented – as figures without face – and the feeling of powerlessness against the virus generates a “trivialization of barbarism” in the country.
“The unknown is very scary, and at first people react to it with a lot of symptoms like stress, anxiety and depression. But after a certain moment it seems like some kind of denial is happening … maybe defending themselves against a feeling of impotence, ‘she said.
Disinformation also played a part.
Alexandre Cunha, a specialist in infectious disease at Brasilia University Hospital, in the capital of the country, said: “Disinformation has been very bad for our doctors. Every day we have to deal with a relative question about the treatment as a patient who requires drugs that are not scientifically proven such as hydroxychloroquine. ”
“[It] feels like people are used to the idea that they can not escape from Covid-19. The country is still dealing with a huge number of deaths and people seem stupid about it, “Cunha said.
Brazilians have used the internet to create a network of affection and support. The Support Network Host Group Covid-19, for example, has 8,000 psychologists and psychiatrists who provide free virtual care about loss and absence.
And the website Inumeráveis, created to honor Covid-19 victims with individual tributes, is based on the premise that “there are those who do not like to be numbered; people deserve to exist in prose.” All posts are prepared by volunteer journalists using a questionnaire, answered by friends and family at the time of registration.
Gabriela Veiga, who works as a social media specialist for Inumeráveis, notes that the lack of a good farewell ritual, imposed by the pandemic, makes it even more important to talk about those who have lost their lives.
“Talking about her loved ones in a festive way, remembering funny moments with that person, for example, helps improve the grieving process,” she told CNN.
Rodrigo Pedroso reported from Sao Paulo, Fernanda Wenzel from Porto Alegre and Thaize Oliveira from Rio de Janeiro. Radina Gigova contributed to this report.
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