Amid warnings of "catastrophic" COVID-19 third wave, Brazil's state governors reopen economy wsws.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wsws.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
São Paulo’s state government, media promote bogus data to drive school reopenings
Last week Brazil’s fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro replaced key figures in his cabinet and the military. The move is in preparation for a wholesale crackdown on all opposition amid record COVID-19 cases and deaths and just weeks after a wave of strikes by bus workers, oil workers, app delivery workers and teachers.
The country’s COVID-19 death toll reached 340,000 on Wednesday, the world’s second highest, amid record numbers of new cases and deaths. There were 460,000 new cases and 20,000 deaths last week, and the death toll is expected to be even higher this week after the daily toll surpassed 4,000 more than once. Brazil accounts for one in every four deaths reported worldwide each day and leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported.
Second Brazil wave strains hospitals in Sao Paulo s interior
by Tatiana Pollastri And Diane Jeantet, The Associated Press
Posted Jan 28, 2021 6:03 pm EDT
Last Updated Jan 28, 2021 at 6:14 pm EDT
Health workers pull a COVID-19 patient from an ambulance into Santa Casa Hospital in Jau, Brazil, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021. The Santa Casa hospital is operating at full capacity and patients take turns receiving oxygen. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
JAU, Brazil Rodinei Silva made two trips this week to the Santa Casa de Jau hospital in the interior of Brazil’s Sao Paulo state. First, he brought his wife, who was suffering COVID-19 symptoms including trouble breathing. She tested positive, but was sent home with medication because space was scarce.
January 29, 2021 Share
Rodinei Silva made two trips this week to the Santa Casa de Jau hospital in the interior of Brazil’s Sao Paulo state. First, he brought his wife, who was suffering COVID-19 symptoms including trouble breathing. She tested positive, but was sent home with medication because space was scarce.
“There were no beds on Tuesday,” Silva, 65, said, adding that his wife’s condition is deteriorating at home. He returned to the hospital on Thursday because he was showing symptoms.
Each day, several patients like Silva turn up at the hospital in the municipality of about 152,000 people, seeking treatment. But the facility also admits COVID-19 patients from 11 surrounding cities, and it reached capacity on Jan. 18.