Brazil’s cities are having to go it alone in fighting the spread of the coronavirus due to a lack of support from the country’s President, who describes the virus as a “little flu”. In fact, President Jair Bolsonaro has lambasted the Brazilian media for creating ‘hysteria’ and blowing the threat out of proportion, saying, “the people will soon know they have been tricked by those governors and the mainstream media.” He boldly claims, “Other viruses have killed many more than this one, and there wasn't all this commotion.”
Thus, São Paulo, for example, instituted a 15-day lockdown this week as Bolsonaro has largely ignored public health warnings and has refrained from telling Brazilians to stay at home or businesses to close down. Last week, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro both declared states of emergency, and reduced public transportation, warned against large public gatherings, canceled sporting and cultural events, and urged companies to allow employees to work from home.
However, their efforts are threatened by the President. Bolsonaro has gone as far as criticizing governors and mayors who have implemented such restrictions, calling them “job killers”, saying “what [they] are doing is a crime”, that the “economy comes first”, and that “banning this and that isn’t going to contain the spread”. He adds, “We should take steps, the virus could turn into a fairly serious issue. But the economy has to function because we can't have a wave of unemployment.”
In fact, Bolsonaro has called for these cities to reopen their schools and businesses, positing that “this is a crisis much worse than what the coronavirus has caused in Brazil”. In a nationally televised address on Tuesday, he urged governors to limit isolation measures to high-risk individuals. He said, “What needs to be done? Put the people to work. Preserve the elderly, preserve those who have health problems. But nothing more than that.”
The country’s governors protested against these instructions on Wednesday, saying they are in diametric opposition to recommendations by health experts. São Paulo Governor João Doria threatened to sue the federal government if it continued to meddle with the city’s containment efforts. Even the Supreme Court upheld the measures challenged by Bolsonaro, while both congressional houses criticized the President’s televised address on Tuesday.
Bolsonaro’s blasé attitude comes despite members of his own political circle contracting the virus, such as several members of his delegation to Florida. Moreover, Bolsonaro has been seen at political rallies, “shaking hands, bumping fists, and slapping […] backs”.
This lackluster approach hasn’t gone unnoticed by Brazil’s public; 54% rated governors’ response to the pandemic as “great” or “good”, while only 34% said the same of the President.
Brazil currently has over 2400 confirmed cases, with 57 deaths.
Brazilian Mayors and Governors Defy President, Implement COVID-19 Lockdowns
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has called them “job killers” and ‘criminals’.
March 26, 2020
IMAGE SOURCE: ANDRE BORGES / APBrazilian President Jair Bolsonaro