Brazil's Bolsonaro Plays Down Coronavirus Risk As Cases Top 1500

[appalachiablue]

Source: Reuters

BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has denied the country’s healthcare system will collapse next month, contradicting his own health minister as the number of deaths in the country jumped 39% and confirmed cases topped 1,500.

The latest health ministry figures on Sunday show that the death toll from coronavirus in Brazil rose to at least 25 from 18 the day before, a rise of 39%, and the number of confirmed cases now stands at 1,546, up from 1,128. In an interview with CNN Brasil on Saturday night, Bolsonaro also expressed his frustration with several states’ measures to essentially shut down commerce and restrict people’s movement, saying they have gone too far and are damaging the economy.

“I think Mandetta was exaggerating,” Bolsonaro told CNN Brasil, referring to health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who said on Friday that Brazil’s fragile healthcare system will collapse under the weight of coronavirus by the end of April.

Bolsonaro said “collapse” was the wrong choice of words. “What we’re doing is lengthening the infection curve. I don’t believe in a collapse,” he said. Bolsonaro tweeted on Sunday that the government is distributing around 10 million coronavirus tests, half of which have been dispatched this month...

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil/brazils-bolsonaro-plays-down-coronavirus-risk-as-cases-top-1500-idUSKBN21913N

[denvine]

1. Sounds familiar

Trump clone!

[magicarpet]

2. He still thinks it is a hoax like trDumpie told him.

He is about two weeks behind world wide reality. He'll catch up. Maybe trDumpie will call him and give him the new Fascist marching orders.

He is so busy cutting down the Brazilian rain forests, he does not have time to read the newspapers or answer his phone.

[Rube Icon]

9. Trump Stil Believes That

Don't think for a minute he doesn't. In the remnants of his mind, this is all a plot against him!

[Submariner]

3. Bolsonaro likely hopes Corona would sweep through the Favelas

and devastate the poor. Those poor people are probably on their own. Good luck.

[not fooled]

5. Don't these morons ever look at the news from other countries?

They think what's happening in other countries like Italy with late testing won't happen in theirs?

[rustysgurl]

6. My son is in Rio ...

... and positive cases are already being reported in the favelas (rumor has it the disease spread from the wealthy who traveled back from Italy and Spain and gave it to their servants who carried it back to the slums). A quarantine has been instituted in Sao Paulo, and the bridge across the bay in Rio has been closed. Nothing is open in Rio, and the beaches and streets are deserted. He and his girlfriend were stranded when American cancelled all the flights, and they are trying to get out of Rio to Belo Horizonte before they close off roads out of the city. Various Brazilian state governors are taking steps, in defiance of Bolsanaro, much as state governors here in the US are doing. I despair should either of them get sick -- healthcare in Brazil is roll of the dice, at best.

[appalachiablue]

7. Thanks for the report, things sound very serious in Brazil. I hope

your son and girlfriend manage to get out before too long and are ok in the meantime. Young people are remarkably resilient and optimistic which can be a great comfort. Years ago as a teen I visited Rio and South America; the Brazilian city was stunning in beauty and the trip definitely a positive cultural experience.

[BGBD]

8. We had

a thread last week that touched on the potential for seasonality of COVID-19. I said I was watching Rio since it seemed like the most obvious city to me in the Southern Hemisphere for an outbreak to hit hard. At the time there were just a handful of cases, but that has take a huge jump now, as exponential growth would look like.

Brazils healthcare system isn't going to be able to handle it, especially since Bolsonaro is trying to cover up the extent of the outbreak.

The go to move for the right wing nationalists in power is going to be closing borders and downplaying the cases already in country. It was Trumps first move. Look at the right wing here, most of them still don't believe it's a threat and say we are overreacting.