Industry News: Analysis reveals factors underlying COVID-19 spread in Brazil
07 May 2021
An overall failure in Brazil to implement prompt, coordinated, and equitable responses fueled COVID-19’s spread in a context of stark local socioeconomic and health care inequalities, according to an analysis from researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Researchers analyzed the fast spread of COVID-19 cases and deaths across Brazilian states over a nine-month period in 2020. Factors at play in the swift and uneven spread of disease included disparities in health resources and income, lack of containment measures, politicization of the pandemic, and varied responses across states and cities. Based on their findings, the researchers warned that the P.1 variant, first documented in Brazil and already fueling a record number of cases and deaths and the near collapse of the hospital system, is likely to spur the emergence of new variants, isolate Brazil as a threat to global hea
The COVID pandemic is ravaging Brazil, where it has killed nearly 400,000 people, a death toll exceeded only by the U.S. Recently, Doctors Without Borders described the public health crisis in South America’s largest and most populous nation as a humanitarian catastrophe, blaming government leaders for the nation’s “failed COVID-19 response.” The Gazette spoke with Marcia Castro of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health about the lessons the rest of the world can take from Brazil’s plight. Castro, a native of Brazil who has done extensive work in the Brazilian Amazon, is the Andelot Professor of Demography.
For immediate release: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Boston, MA – An overall failure in Brazil to implement prompt, coordinated, and equitable responses fueled COVID-19’s spread in a context of stark local socioeconomic and health care inequalities, according to an analysis from researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Researchers analyzed the fast spread of COVID-19 cases and deaths across Brazilian states over a nine-month period in 2020. Factors at play in the swift and uneven spread of disease included disparities in health resources and income, lack of containment measures, politicization of the pandemic, and varied responses across states and cities. Based on their findings, the researchers warned that the P.1 variant, first documented in Brazil and already fueling a record number of cases and deaths and the near collapse of the hospital system, is likely to spur the emergence of new variants, isolate Brazil as a threat to global health security, and lead to a