[ad_1]
On a recent afternoon, Batista opened the metal sliding door to his living room, donned a mask, and yelled to potential customers that it was open, defying a state order to close all businesses except essential ones.
“If I could choose, I would stay at home. But I have to go out, there is no other way,” Batista said, explaining that he supports his sister and his niece. “I am behind on all my bills, last month, this month.”
Built in the hills of northern Sao Paulo, Brasilandia is home to more than 260,000 people. Overall, according to the official census, more than 11 percent of the city’s residents live in favelas, and many of them work in the informal economy that has largely disappeared during the coronavirus crisis.
Nair Barbosa cleaned houses, but was fired when the family she worked for began taking refuge in her home. She signed up for the federal temporary unemployment benefit worth $ 100 a month and waited in a crowded line with other residents for more than an hour at the government agency’s office in Brasilandia to pick up her first check. She came out empty-handed.
“The system failed,” he said. “I will have to go home and come back later today.”
According to Sao Paulo Health Secretary Edson Aparecido, although wealthy travelers who returned from their vacations in Italy and the Colorado ski slopes brought coronaviruses to Brazil, the poor will be most affected.
“Where people die is on the outskirts of the city. That is why social isolation is so important,” Aparecido said.
But, as with many of the favelas, social isolation is very difficult in Brasilandia. Many generations are packed under one roof and there are few public parks or other public spaces. For health care, there are clinics, but not large hospitals.
“It started as the so-called virus imported by people living in better conditions,” Aparecido said. “But now that he’s gone to the outskirts, you can see what’s going on.”
