[Bolsonaro] considers COVID-19 a “little flu” and calls the cry of experts to take the pandemic seriously, “collective hysteria.”

On April 6 2020, a Datafolha poll (one of the most important opinion polling institutes in Brazil), published in the influential newspaper “Folha de São Paulo”, revealed that 76% of Brazilians believed that the most important thing to do in the midst of the new coronavirus pandemic was to maintain the measures of social isolation in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health, then led by Luiz Henrique Mandetta. However, the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, never supported these measures. He considers COVID-19 a “little flu” and calls the cry of experts to take the pandemic seriously, “collective hysteria”. Thus, on April 16 2020, precisely due to disagreements with President Bolsonaro regarding the policy of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic period, Luiz Henrique Mandetta was dismissed from his post.. In his inaugural speech, the new Minister of Health, Nelson Teich, said he was “totally aligned” with the thinking of Bolsonaro, and that he would work to build a “structured and progressive exit from the isolation”. A new Datafolha poll, carried out at the end of April 2020, revealed that Brazilians’ approval of social isolation measures had fallen to 68%, and it continues to fall since then.

Coronavirus is definitely more lethal in peripheral regions of Brazil and among Brazil’s black and brown population.[1] According to experts heard on May 3, 2020, by “O Globo” (one of the most influential and conservative daily newspapers in the country), the disease will have a deadly impact in areas without basic sanitation and where the supply of health services is scarcer. The Sanitary Physician Ivan França Jr, from the University of São Paulo (USP), says,

“We will pay the price of our inequality. And who will pay most of this bill will be the poorest, who are unable to stay at home, have no sanitation, have no way to even wash their hands because the water is not enough.”

Data from an epidemiological bulletin from the city of São Paulo show that the pandemic kills more black and brown Brazilians than it does white Brazilians. The risk of COVID-19 death for black Brazilians is 62% higher than for white Brazilians. Comparing browns to white Brazilians, the risk is 23% higher for the former. Furthermore, the risk of COVID-19 death is inversely proportional to income and, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the average monthly income of employed white Brazilians is more than 70% higher than that of black or brown Brazilians. In Rio de Janeiro, data reveal a deepening of this socio-economic gap. Lethality rates reach 21% in the poorest areas of the city, while Barra da Tijuca and Zona Sul, the rich tourist areas, where the disease was initially recorded, have average lethality rates of 8%. What these data reveal is that the black persons and the poor are dying more from COVID-19 in Brazil than the whites and the rich.

It is crucial to note that there is no unification of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in public and private hospitals in Brazil, that is, while is some places there are no ICU beds in the public health system, there are surpluses in the private system. “The private system has 55% of ICU beds to serve 25% of the population” argues Francisco Braga, a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). Meanwhile, the Brazilian public health system (SUS), which serves 75% of the population, has less than half of the ICU beds. Finally, Brazil has a huge housing deficit, with almost 7 million families without a home to live in – and more than 6 million decades-long vacant properties. This perverse lack of a housing system capable of reallocating vacant properties to homeless families further aggravates the difficulty of implementing measures of social isolation. It is also necessary to register the problem of precarious houses (almost 1 million) and overcrowded houses (over 300 thousand). For Cláudio Cabral Marques, Specialized Prosecutor for External Control of Police Activity in Maranhão, governmental authorities have to keep in mind the people who do not have a decent home to live in during lockdown periods.

“[How] people living in the peripheries, in shacks […] are going to stay in lockdown? It won’t happen. There will come a time when people won’t be able to stand it.”

In summary: black, brown and poor Brazilians who live in precarious houses in the peripheries of the country are those who face the greatest challenges that the pandemic presents.

In virtually all big Brazilian cities, there are groups of volunteers, normally not connected to any government agency, who distribute food, clothes and even “mobile showers” to the population in situation of street/living on the street. For example, in the city of São Paulo the Brazilian epicentre of COVID-19, no less than 24,000 people are homeless. With at least 52 million Brazilians living below the poverty line, out of a total population of 211 million, the exercise of charity is a common practice in the country and has gained strength with the pandemic. Many Brazilian cities also have government services to help those most in need, especially in terms of meal supplies, public hostels, and hospital referrals.

Below, I offer examples from local groups, that is, from the state of Rio Grande do Sul (in the south of Brazil) and the municipality of Porto Alegre, its capital.

1) “Collective Health Against Coronavirus” – Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

This is an Extension Programme that promotes actions and reflexions on issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is coordinated by professors of the Department of Collective Health at UFRGS School of Nursing and involves university staff, students and the external community. It works in partnership with the State Health Secretariat, Municipal Health Departments, Social Movements and Civil Society Organizations.

Among the projects developed within the scope of “Collective Health Against Coronavirus” I highlight the following:

(a) “Health of the Black Population and COVID-19”. Coordination: Dra. Fernanda Bairros.

This group offers support to populations living in quilombola [2] communities in Rio Grande do Sul to face the pandemic, adopting measures such as: i) orientation to quilombola populations on COVID-19; ii) identification of the demands of quilombola populations in the face of the pandemic; iii) establishment of dialogue channels with the public authorities to carry out actions to help these populations; iv) monitoring the impact of the pandemic on quilombola communities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

(b) “Solidarity Network at UFRGS”. Coordination: Dr. Roberto Henrique Amorim.

A collaborative action that was built to help underprivileged communities to face the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Porto Alegre. It is composed of more than 50 scholars, students and residents of courses related to the Health area. Besides producing educational materials, it receives donations for the purchase and distribution of face masks, alcohol gel and various hygiene products. The communities are allowed and encouraged to exercise the leading role in the organization and management of the material and resources delivered to them.

2) Association of Haitians in Rio Grande do Sul.

There are more than 20,000 Haitian immigrants and refugees living in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This association has a registered bank account that receives donations for the purchase of food, hygiene products and clothing to be distributed among the Haitians in need of help.

3) Porto Alegre City Hall.

Porto Alegre City Hall ordered the requisition of an empty three-story building to serve the street population who are at risk due to the new coronavirus pandemic. The property will house 205 homeless people in Porto Alegre during the pandemic.

Jair Bolsonaro, known for his racism, knows that those who are dying of COVID-19 in Brazil are black, brown, and poor people from the Brazilian peripheries, a population despised by the president and the elite that supports him.

I conclude by emphasizing that Brazil is heading towards a health catastrophe of unimaginable proportions and, even so, the federal government insists on prioritizing what it calls “getting things back to normal”. This is due to the fact that Jair Bolsonaro, known for his racism, knows that those who are dying of COVID-19 in Brazil are black, brown, and poor people from the Brazilian peripheries, a population despised by the president and the elite that supports him. His is a genocidal policy based on the assumption that “people will die” and “so what?” – these are two of his latest statements regarding the pandemic.

Finally, in the day that Brazil’s death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic neared 10,000, Bolsonaro declared to journalists was that he was going to “make a barbecue to 30 people” at Palácio da Alvorada, the official residence of Brazilian presidents. According to the May 9, 2020 editorial of “The Lancet”, “perhaps the biggest threat to Brazil’s COVID-19 response is its president, Jair Bolsonaro.” This certainly echoes true.

All responses to this questionnaire were substantiated with information published on the official websites of the most influential Brazilian media outlets and can be verified in the links in the text.