Brazil's Bolsonaro questions coronavirus deaths, says 'sorry, some will die'

[rooster59]

Brazil's Bolsonaro questions coronavirus deaths, says 'sorry, some will die'

By Pedro Fonseca and Marcelo Rochabrun

 

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro presents a media statement announcing economic measures during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Brasilia, Brazil, March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

 

RIO DE JANEIRO/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday cast doubt on Sao Paulo's death toll from the coronavirus outbreak and accused the state governor of manipulating the numbers for political ends, without giving evidence for his claims.

 

Bolsonaro's accusations were the latest broadside in an ugly battle with Brazil's governors, who have chafed at the president's view that protecting the economy takes priority over social distancing measures to combat the spread of the highly contagious virus.

 

Following the advice of public health experts, the vast majority of the country's 26 governors have banned non-essential commercial activities and public services to contain the outbreak in their states.

 

"I'm sorry, some people will die, they will die, that's life," Bolsonaro said in a television interview on Friday night. "You can't stop a car factory because of traffic deaths."

 

Bolsonaro said that in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil's economic powerhouse, the death toll seemed "too large." Sao Paulo has the most cases and deaths so far of coronavirus in Brazil, at 1,223 cases and 68 deaths.

 

"We need to look at what is happening there, this cannot be a numbers game to favor political interests," Bolsonaro said.

 

Earlier on Friday, Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, a former Bolsonaro ally who many expect to be a rival in the 2022 presidential election, accused Bolsonaro of promoting "disinformation" by launching a TV ad campaign criticizing the restrictions, featuring the slogan "#BrazilCannotStop."

 

The slogan is similar to a campaign in Milan before deaths in Italy soared.

 

ACTION TAKEN

 

Brazil's justice ministry on Friday barred all non-resident foreigners from entering the country via its airports. The travel ban goes into effect on Monday and follows similar measures in several other South American nations.

 

Also on Friday, Brazil's central bank called for emergency bond-buying powers in line with 'quantitative easing' policies in other countries, while unveiling a 40 billion reais credit line to help smaller companies with payroll.

 

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said the government will offer 45 billion reais to self-employed and informal workers, adding that all the government's coronavirus-fighting measures will total 700 billion reais over three months.

 

Confirmed coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 3,417 on Friday from 1,891 on Monday, as related deaths climbed to 92, according to the Health Ministry.

 

Bolsonaro's popularity has slipped during the crisis, and many people across Brazil bang pots and pans in their windows nightly in protest at his handling of it.

 

In counterprotests on Friday, Bolsonaro supporters drove honking caravans through major cities to oppose the lockdowns, sharing social media videos with the #BrazilCannotStop hashtag.

 

The TV advertisement, shared on social media by Bolsonaro allies including his son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, was commissioned by the president's office at a cost of 4.9 million reais ($1 million) without consulting the Health Ministry, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

 

"For the neighborhood salesmen, for the shop owners in city centers, for domestic employees, for millions of Brazilians, Brazil cannot stop," said the ad, which shows scenes of crowded classrooms and street markets.

 

The slogan is similar to #MilanWillNotStop, which became popular in northern Italy in February. Italy went on to become a global epicenter of the outbreak, with more deaths than China.

 

The mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, has said he regrets sharing the hashtag.

 

"Many have referred to that video with a hashtag #MilanWillNotStop. It was a video which went viral on the internet.

Everyone was sharing it, I also shared it, rightly or wrongly, probably wrongly," Sala said in a television interview.

 

A Health Ministry official told reporters the ministry would not comment on Bolsonaro and that guidelines recommending social distancing remained the same.

 

($1 = 5.0670 reais)

 

(Additional reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Angelo Amante; Editing by Gabriel Stargardter, Brad Haynes and Sonya Hepinstall)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-28

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[Nyezhov]

11 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

"I'm sorry, some people will die, they will die, that's life," Bolsonaro said in a television interview on Friday night. "You can't stop a car factory because of traffic deaths."

whether he is right or wrong in his policy, he do does have a point. Folks dont like blunt talk though.

[1Gringo]

and the US thought it had a monopoly on stupidity!

[stevenl]

24 minutes ago, justin case said:

take it or leave it ... everybody will get it eventually

 

Nonsense.

 

Now he and the governors have to make a choice, accept the country grinding to a halt with less deaths or keep going with a higher death count.

 

But denying it exists is simply stupid.

[stevenl]

5 minutes ago, Ian Nagle said:

"40% of corona patients need hospitalization and ventilation"

That's interesting because i was informed 81% will swot it off at home. The other 19 - 20% will have severe issues with around a 3% mortality rate who get infected.  The more i read the more the noise becomes louder. It depends how you define 'patient' but your post is confusing nevertheless.

Plus, mortality rate of 10% of the people tested positive. Many have not been tested, so the mortality rate will be considerably lower.

[phantomfiddler]

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

whether he is right or wrong in his policy, he do does have a point. Folks dont like blunt talk though.

Roughly 150,000 people die every day due to natural causes ie old age, accidents, various types of illness, and I would be surprised if this number rises drastically ????

[bristolboy]

53 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

whether he is right or wrong in his policy, he do does have a point. Folks dont like blunt talk though.

Blunt talk when it comes from the mouth of someone whose inaction and conduct has made the pandemic a lot worse than it need be might a little irritating to some. 

[4MyEgo]

49 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

What is wrong with you people? This has nothing to do with flu.....flu is a minot irritant that millions of people catch, very few are hospitalized and very, very few die except those with extensive comorbidity. Plus there is an annual vaccine produced for anyone that wants it. It is less serious and less contagoious.

 

40% of corona patients need hospitalization and ventilation...why else do you thin the NHS have ordered 10,000 ventilators, and Trump has ordered GM to produce ventilators instead of cars. It is because so many people need ventilators and there are simply not enough (althougt here were more than enough for the flu that comes each year). CoVid 19 is a more serious disease. The mortality rate in Italy is almost 10%, and the transmission rate is as high, if not higher than flu.

Stop trying to dismiss this as some sort of idiocy on behalf of our leaders. Yes any of our leaders are idiots, but even idiots get some things right.

Point noted, however, let us not forget that Italy has one of the largest aging population in the world and one of the highest pollution levels in the world in the north of Italy.

 

TABLE. TOP-10 COUNTRIES WITH THE OLDEST POPULATIONS VARY BY MEASUREMENT USED

Share of the Population Ages 65 and Older, 2015			Share of the Population With a Remaining Life Expectancy of 15 Years or Less
Rank	Country	%	Rank	Country	%
1	Japan	26.0	1	Bulgaria	18.1
2	Italy	22.4	2	Latvia	16.5
3	Germany	21.1	3	Ukraine	15.6
4	Portugal	20.7	4	Croatia	15.6
5	Finland	20.3	5	Serbia	15.2
6	Bulgaria	20.1	6	Germany	15.0
7	Greece	19.9	7	Lithuania	14.9
8	Sweden	19.6	8	Hungary	14.4
9	Latvia	19.3	9	Romania	14.4
10	Denmark	19.0	10	Georgia	14.4

 

https://europeangreens.eu/news/italy-struggles-against-rise-pollution-levels

[PremiumLane]

2 hours ago, Nyezhov said:

whether he is right or wrong in his policy, he do does have a point. Folks dont like blunt talk though.

no he doesn't have a point, he is just another fascist who doesn't really care about the lives of his people

[Opl]

Bolsonaro.....

1/ March 13 2020 

"ENG)Too much lies and little information. Coronavirus exam done with the team that were with JB in USA have not yet been completed There are always those people who tell lies in the media and if the story is confirmed they say "I told you!", if not will be just 1 more fake news" 

 

2/ March 15 2020 Brazilia - 

Brasilia. SERGIO LIMA / AFP

https://brazilian.report/coronavirus-brazil-live-blog/2020/03/18/bolsonaro-never-abandon-brazilian-people/

 

3/ March 18

 

 

Brazil: Population 210 M -  Three-quarters of the population, having no mutual insurance, depend on the very precarious public health system (SUS). According to press reports, the latter has around 20,000 intensive care beds, today 95% occupied, and only 5,800 ventilators, with huge disparities by region (poor Amazonian state of Amapa: 11 ventilators - 850,000 inhabitants) 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Opl

[Krataiboy]

1 hour ago, Pedrogaz said:

What is wrong with you people? This has nothing to do with flu.....flu is a minot irritant that millions of people catch, very few are hospitalized and very, very few die except those with extensive comorbidity. Plus there is an annual vaccine produced for anyone that wants it. It is less serious and less contagoious.

 

40% of corona patients need hospitalization and ventilation...why else do you thin the NHS have ordered 10,000 ventilators, and Trump has ordered GM to produce ventilators instead of cars. It is because so many people need ventilators and there are simply not enough (althougt here were more than enough for the flu that comes each year). CoVid 19 is a more serious disease. The mortality rate in Italy is almost 10%, and the transmission rate is as high, if not higher than flu.

Stop trying to dismiss this as some sort of idiocy on behalf of our leaders. Yes any of our leaders are idiots, but even idiots get some things right.

Calling a disease which causes six million infections worldwide and notches up some 650,000 deaths a year "a minor irritant" is a bit of a stretch.

 

And nothing like forty percent of people diagnosed with corona virus - assuming that is what you mean by patients -  end in up hospital. The vast majority suffer only mild symptoms, or none at all and recover spontaneously.  

 

A notable exception are the infirm elderly, where the comorbitity factor kicks in to push up fatalities, as it does with common flu. The elevated death rate in Italy reflects this, with a recent study showing 99 percent of victims as elderly and/or with underlying life-threatening conditions.

 

To die with COVID-19 is not necessarily to die of the virus, a misconception which is falsely inflating the mortality figures.

 

Nobody is saying all political leaders fighting this crisis are idiots. But, unfortunately,  the Draconian measures being implemented in some countries are likely to turn a temporary health problem into an ongoing  social and economic catastrophe. 

 

https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/35187-study-99-of-italy-s-coronavirus-deaths-had-a-pre-existing-condition

Edited March 28, 2020 by Krataiboy

[nobodysfriend]

Bolsonaro --- That is the one who enabled the massive destruction of the amazonian Rainforest , ( the ' lung ' of the planet ) , recently ...

Soon after that the virus appeared and is killing people by destroying their lungs ... may be a coincidence ... ?

[tyga]

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

Roughly 150,000 people die every day due to natural causes ie old age, accidents, various types of illness, and I would be surprised if this number rises drastically ????

Average deaths for all causes per day in Spain is 1200 approx. In Italy, let's say 2000 tops. Now we have 900 Covid deaths a day and rising, and that is with the lockdown! You are seriously misinformed... Get ready to be very surprised, especially in Brazil and the USA

[tyga]

7 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Calling a disease which causes six million infections worldwide and notches up some 650,000 deaths a year "a minor irritant" is a bit of a stretch.

 

And nothing like forty percent of people diagnosed with corona virus - assuming that is what you mean by patients -  end in up hospital. The vast majority suffer only mild symptoms, or none at all and recover spontaneously.  

 

A notable exception are the infirm elderly, where the comorbitity factor kicks in to push up fatalities, as it does with common flu. The elevated death rate in Italy reflects this, with a recent study showing 99 percent of victims as elderly and/or with underlying life-threatening conditions.

 

To die with COVID-19 is not necessarily to die of the virus, a misconception which is falsely inflating the mortality figures.

 

Nobody is saying all political leaders fighting this crisis are idiots. But, unfortunately,  the Draconian measures being implemented in some countries are likely to turn a temporary health problem into an ongoing  social and economic catastrophe. 

 

https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/35187-study-99-of-italy-s-coronavirus-deaths-had-a-pre-existing-condition

See my other rebuttal. If you have 900 deaths a day, even if you fob them off as elderly or dying with COVID and not of it, your argument grinds to a half because even with lockdown there are approaching as many deaths a day with COVID as you'd expect of all deaths. There is no way to square that circle. So lets do the maths. You have a population of 60.44 Million and an average death rate per year of 11 per 1000 people so that is 1821 average deaths per day from all causes. For COVID it was 919 yesterday so it is a bit of stretch to think that somehow half of all deaths were put down to COVID and it is a normal death rate that is being sensationalized. Even if you tried to convince yourself, the numbers are still rising and will probably hit more than the expected total by all cause death rate. After this, we will expect to see the same thing happen in the USA and other countries. The death rate in the long term may drop due to attrition of the vulnerable but more people who are not in the most vulneralbe group are either in a really bad way in ICU or dying. Survival is not the only thing we should be looking at here. 2 weeks ona  ventilator is a life changing experience for many people, assuming they make it! Also, we can't be complacent because there is still much we don't know about the virus.

 

Another thing is to note that a LOT of younger people are dying who would not normally as well as many doctors. Do you really think it is normal to expect 43 doctors to die in this time frame in Italy and all supposedly either with or because of COVID 19? Scary....

[bristolboy]

3 minutes ago, Victornoir said:

Draconian measures must be taken in the face of an unknown new virus. 

Later, increasingly effective treatments will be proposed to relieve the pressure, but we have to wait a little.

Currently the laxity proposed by Bolsonaro should lead to dismiss Brazil from the group of responsible nations.

Where for company, Brazil will have, among others, the USA.

[malibukid]

another reason to boycott Brazil

[puipuitom]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Point noted, however, let us not forget that Italy has one of the largest aging population in the world and one of the highest pollution levels in the world in the north of Italy.

My grandchildren still like it very mich to see/visit their grandparents. Pity now only per Skype and WharsApp. When MY children were young, they went nearly daily to visit their grandparents.

[ukrules]

3 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

40% of corona patients need hospitalization and ventilation.

absolute rubbish

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, Victornoir said:

The USA as the Germans wish to allow the maintenance of the economic activity by carrying out massive screenings to isolate and treat any contaminated person.

Nothing to do with Bolsonaro's statement which has no means for proper detection and care.

The USA may wish for all kinds of things. But it doesn't have the resources to carry out massive screenings. It too had a leader who was in complete denial and now only 50% denial.

[tokachinter]

2 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Where for company, Brazil will have, among others, the USA.

Yep, this guy is another stable genius President! C'mon Brazil you can do better than letting this idiot decimate your country.

[metisdead]

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