After a year of pandemic, has Brazil learned anything?

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Vitoria Fossari Geronasso, 21 years-old 3rd year medical student at Centro Universitário do Planalto Central Apparecido dos Santos from Brasília, Brazil. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writers and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

In February of 2020, the first SARS-Cov2 contamination was identified in Brazil. On that day, all the media announced the beginning of the nightmare that already had taken over Asia and Europe. Right at the beginning schools and commerce were closed, virtual campaigns were created alerting the population to stay home and rapid tests to detect the new coronavirus begun to be available by the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), the Brazilian public health system. 

However, the use of masks in closed spaces was only implemented in April. This shows how late preventive measures were enacted, influenced by politicians who did not use masks in public appearances. Throughout this year of pandemic, Brazil went through four health ministers, a scenario that illustrates the chaos that was established and remains to this day.

Moreover, SUS has been overloaded absurdly, creating situations where medications, tests, and ICU beds are in deficit for various patients. Doctors are being overloaded to save the most lives possible, working hours on end, and renouncing their well-being for others. On the other hand, Brazilians never lost an opportunity to travel to the beach during this “vacation time”.

To this day, the Brazilian population has not fully perceived the gravity of this pandemic. More than 350 thousand deaths caused by covid-19, the Brazilian insists on agglomerating in bars and restaurants, asking the return of in-person classes in schools and the reopening of commerce, justifying that the holt will break Brazil economically. However, what is the use for the economy if the population is dying with this situation?

To be a Brazilian today there is a high price to be paid. To suffer every day with the news of the contamination of someone close and to not know what the course of the illness will be if you should say goodbye to a loved one or not. Brazil is suffering from its rulers’ negligence towards this calamity, not implementing basic preventative measures, such as lockdown, the closing of restaurants, and curfew.

Therefore, after a year of pandemic, we conclude that Brazil has not learned any lessons from the situation. The vaccine was received with much hope from the population, still, the news begins to show a lack of vaccine for the target group. Hence, with the current scenario at hand, only waiting your turn to be vaccinated remains and, until then, continue to hope not to be contaminated with this spreading virus.

About the author

Vitoria Fossari Geronasso, 21 years-old 3rd year medical student at Centro Universitário do Planalto Central Apparecido dos Santos from Brasília, Brazil, affiliated with IFMSA Brazil UNICEPLAC in 2018. Member of the Pediatric Oncology League of DF, Gynecology and Obstetricy League of UNICEPLAC and local coordinator of IMFSA Brazil UNICEPLAC. Has interests and carries out research on obstetricy, pediatric oncology, palliative care and humanizing healthcare. If you need to talk to her, you can send an e-mail to vfossari@gmail.com.