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São Paulo governor João Doria (PSDB) extended the quarantine in the state until May 31.
The announcement was made this Friday (8), at the Palácio dos Bandeirantes, the seat of the São Paulo government.
As of March 24, only essential services are open to the public in the state, as a measure to contain the advance of the new coronavirus. The deadline has been postponed several times. According to the government, the term is evaluated according to the speed of contamination in the state. In the last announcement, made on April 17, it was said that the measures would be valid until next Sunday (10). Now, they have been postponed for another 21 days.
São Paulo is the epicenter of the pandemic in Brazil, with 41,830 confirmed cases of contamination by the new coronavirus and 3,416 deaths.
Pressured by market sectors to authorize the resumption of economic activity, Doria defended himself, saying that adopting quarantine “is not an easy task, no human being is happy to deliver bad news,” but said the move is important to preserving lives in what he called the most difficult moment in the history of Brazil in the last 100 years.
“No country in the world has managed to relax social isolation measures with the rising pollution curve. Unfortunately, in recent weeks there has been a disregard for the quarantine in São Paulo and other parts of Brazil, and the number of cases has increased, “he said. .
The coordinator of the state virus contingency committee, David Uip, who was already infected and recovered, was not involved in the announcement. He said that he felt bad last Wednesday (6), with cardiac and clinical changes, he underwent examinations and the doctors ordered him to leave temporarily.
In his place in charge of actions in the state was Dimas Covas, director of the Butantan Institute.
According to him, to relax the isolation measures, two indicators are needed: reduction in the number of new cases for 14 consecutive days and a bed occupancy rate in the ICU of less than 60%.
In Grande SP, the bed occupancy rate in the ICU is 90%, according to him. In the state as a whole, it is 70%.
Dimas Covas emphasized that the decision to extend the quarantine was unanimous among the technical personnel, and showed projections that predicted that at this point there would be 700,000 confirmed cases in the state without the isolation measures, more than 17 times the number we have today. According to estimates, there would also be 40,000 more deaths, according to him.
Estimates also indicated that each infected person would transmit the virus to three more people. With distance measurements and an isolation rate of 55%, the contagion rate was 1.16. If the isolation rate reached 70%, the contagion rate would be less than 1.
Although the cities of the interior press to abandon the containment measures, in the capital the tendency is to harden. Starting next Monday, a mega-network will begin in the city that will take half of the SP fleet off the street.
Now, throughout the day and throughout the city, not just in the expanded center, half of the vehicles will be banned from driving, every day of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays.
On even days, cars with even end plates (0, 2, 4, 6, 8) can be driven. On odd days, cars with odd end plates (the others) can drive. On Monday 11, for example, only cars with odd-numbered plates will be able to drive. Health professionals will be excluded from the determination. Those who were already exempt from the previous model, such as motorcyclists, taxi drivers and people with disabilities, will remain exempt.
However, drivers of apps like Uber must obey new rules that restrict vehicle traffic. Employees of services considered essential, such as markets, pet stores, bakeries and lotteries, among others, must also obey the rotation with their cars. The inspection will be carried out by electronic radar and traffic officers.
Since Thursday, the use of masks in the state of São Paulo is mandatory to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus to anyone who takes to the streets and inside establishments that remain open and public offices.
