Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to demonstrate the imperative need for the adoption of the “lockdown” with the closure of all non-essential activities throughout Brazil and the impeachment of Bolsonaro to halt the advance of the pandemic of the new Coronavirus that has reached alarming levels in the country. The “lockdown” became necessary because there is no other alternative capable of immediately preventing the exponential increase in the number of infected and killed in Brazil, not even with the mass vaccination and Bolsonaro’s impeachment is necessary because since the beginning of the pandemic he has sabotaged all measures necessary to combat the pandemic, that is, it collaborates with the spread of the Coronavirus and with the collective murder of the Brazilian population.
Brazil’s failure to combat the new Coronavirus is quite evident. The consolidated data for the country confirm the formation of a level of intense transmission of covid-19 with the maintenance of high rates of the disease, as well as the overload of the health system. In the midst of the serious situation, governors and mayors began to enact more restrictive measures, such as the closure of non-essential economic activities without, however, the adoption of the “lockdown”. These measures came late for a situation that has already escaped control actions. One fact is evident, what the country is experiencing is a reflection of a lack of control of the pandemic. Public authorities have never had pandemic control. In order to control the pandemic, it would be necessary to adopt measures to minimize the cases of covid-19. For that, there would have to be testing of the entire population, effective social isolation with the “lockdown” and mass vaccination that is not possible because there is not enough vaccine to immunize the entire population. This is all a complex operation that requires national coordination and hard work in all spheres of society. In Brazil, none of this has been done.
Brazil has already collapsed its health system because the ICU beds have already exceeded the limit of its capacity. In view of this catastrophic situation for the health system in Brazil, we affirm that there is no alternative but to adopt the “lockdown” because mass vaccination cannot be adopted, not only because the WHO (World Health Organization) states that Brazil does not you will be able to tame the pandemic with vaccine alone, and also because there is not enough vaccine to carry out mass vaccination.
To halt the growth in the number of infected and dead people to be applied across the country, there is only one immediate solution: the “lockdown” with the total paralysis of activities because the number of infected and dead grows dramatically in Brazil. Currently, 13.2 million people have been infected, 340,000 deaths from the new Coronavirus. On 04/06/2021, there were 4,195 deaths in 24 hours in Brazil. The “lockdown” is absolutely necessary because the strategy of increasing the number of beds is not effective in controlling the pandemic because the speed of propagation of the pandemic exceeds that of the installation of new beds. If the number of infected people continues to increase, the beds will never be enough. Currently, there is no point in increasing the number of ICU beds to fight the pandemic. The strategy is to reduce the number of infected people. The solution lies in the use of a mask, measures of social distance and, above all, the adoption of the “lockdown” because even if there were enough vaccines, the effect of mass vaccination would only occur in the long term.
This entire situation experienced in the country results from the criminal policy of the Jair Bolsonaro government in combating the new Coronavirus by plunging Brazil into an unprecedented health catastrophe. Last week, about 30% of all daily covid-19 deaths in the world occurred in Brazil, although Brazil has only 2.7% of the world population. The catastrophe could be much worse in Brazil if there were no Unified Health System (SUS), with universal coverage. However, the SUS was led to collapse by the Bolsonaro government. On March 29, 2021, 17 of the 27 states in the federation achieved occupancy rates for adult ICU beds of 90% or more. In March of this year, 496 people lost their lives while waiting on the ICU waiting list in the state of São Paulo. Stocks of drugs used for patient intubation are almost depleted. The scarcity of oxygen has affected several cities in Brazil and threatens the entire country. The collapse of the health system is resulting in higher mortality rates, both for covid-19 and other diseases, including due to the lack of available care.
In this context, almost all the governors and mayors of Brazil have adopted restrictive measures to curb the circulation of covid-19. They faced strong opposition from the Bolsonaro government, which even filed a lawsuit in the Federal Supreme Court against three governors who had restricted non-essential economic activities that were filed due to legal inconsistency. Bolsonaro maintains a false opposition between the economy and health when he says that the restrictive measures would cause hunger, unemployment and social chaos. Hunger is happening, however, as a result of the federal government’s lack of effective financial support for low-income families to allow them to stay at home during the pandemic, forcing millions of Brazilians to resume work contributing to the spread of the virus. A new aid program was announced, but reduced to a measly 250 reais on average and, at the height of the pandemic, it has not yet been implemented. Financial aid to small and medium-sized companies is also scarce, which has led some entrepreneurs to oppose restrictive measures for non-essential economic activities. Mass unemployment and social chaos in Brazil are the result of the incompetence and inaction of the Bolsonaro government in pointing out solutions capable of mitigating these problems.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, Bolsonaro has opposed all measures taken by governors and mayors in the fight against the new Coronavirus. On 6/6/2020, Bolsonaro tried to criminally omit data from the pandemic in the country so that the Brazilian population would not be aware of the seriousness of the situation so that it would not pressure the federal, state and municipal governments to adopt social isolation, especially the “lockdown”. This attitude of the Bolsonaro government led the press to take the initiative to disclose the real number of infected and killed by the new Coronavirus. In addition, Bolsonaro placed the incompetent General Pazuello in the Ministry of Health, who made him ineffective in fighting the pandemic by opposing the vaccination of the population and not acting to negotiate enough vaccines to vaccinate the entire population as soon as possible.
Given the lack of national coordination by the Bolsonaro government in combating the new Coronavirus, some governors and mayors adopted numerous measures that sought to maintain economic activities while increasing the number of ICU beds that were not enough to prevent the pandemic from advancing. In an attempt to avoid the collapse of the Brazilian economy, they made social isolation more flexible, contributing to the increase in the number of infected and killed by the covid-19. It has been demonstrated that this policy of reconciling the economy with health has caused population suffering and unnecessary deaths in Brazil. It should be noted that the Imperial College in London carried out a study on the new New Coronavirus in several countries around the world. Report on Brazil, prepared on May 8, 2020 by Thomas A Mellan, Henrique H Hoeltgebaum, Swapnil Mishra and others, entitled “Report 21: Estimating covid-19 cases and reproduction number in Brazil”, predicted that, at worst scenario for Brazil, if no one was quarantined and if the tests were not multiplied, as is the case today, there would be up to 188 million contaminated (equivalent to 88% of the entire Brazilian population) and 1.1 million dead. In the best scenario calculated with 75% of the entire population in quarantine, with tests for all suspected patients, the number of deaths from covid-19 in the country would not exceed 44,300.
It can be concluded from the above that it was an ineffective act to resume economic activity, except the essential ones, prematurely as it has been happening in Brazil because it is causing unnecessary suffering and death. The health of the population must be considered a priority and not the resumption of economic activity. The correct strategy of the moment should be the adoption of the “lockdown” to make the curve of infected and killed by the new Coronavirus start to decrease so as not to put pressure on the health system. Lockdown cities and regions should only be released gradually in the same way as occurred in China with the entire population wearing a face mask, being subjected to constant temperature measurements, in addition to the population being controlled using a QR code (Quick Response municipal health code) that functioned as an immunity passport. In several Chinese cities, there was a QR for each inhabitant, reporting their health status based on both their own statements and data available by the government. Thus, citizens were given codes marked in green, yellow or red. Only residents with a green code can move freely around the city. Yellow and red code holders must remain in quarantine and register daily on an internet platform to provide information, until they obtain the green code.
In addition to the “lockdown” to be adopted by states and municipalities, income should be distributed by the federal government to populations, especially the vulnerable, to avoid that, due to the need for survival, they are forced to leave their homes to work in offices or in the streets. This policy was adopted in the United States under the Joe Biden government and in several European countries. In other words, the federal government should pay people not to go out on the streets so as not to infect or be infected by the virus. Measures should also be adopted by the federal government to help companies, especially micro, small and medium-sized companies, to survive at this time of falling revenues, as well as states and municipalities to avoid their insolvency due to the drop in tax collection. Only the federal government has the capacity to put these measures into practice.
For these measures to be successful and result in the success of combating the new Coronavirus in Brazil, the adoption of the measures described above is urgent, especially the “lockdown” for two or three months. The indispensable condition for Brazil to win the war against the new Coronavirus is that the federal government, the state and municipal governments and the population are united against the common enemy. For these measures to be put into practice, there must be coordinating action by the federal government that, with Bolsonaro, would be impossible. Unfortunately, in Brazil, this situation will not occur as long as the President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro is at the head of the government of Brazil. If everything continues as it is today, and considering the studies at Imperial College, Brazil could reach 188 million infected and 1.1 million dead in 2022. To prevent this from happening, Bolsonaro must be removed from the presidency of the Republic because he represents the main obstacle in combating the new Coronavirus pandemic.
It is necessary that Brazil has a President of the Republic that respects Article 23 of the Constitution, which establishes that it is up to the Union, the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities, among other functions, to take care of health and public assistance, to protect the environment and combat pollution in any of its forms, preserve forests, fauna and flora and combat the causes of poverty and factors of marginalization, promoting the social integration of disadvantaged sectors. None of these attributions has been fulfilled by Bolsonaro in the presidency of the Republic, quite the contrary he has acted against its application. In addition to not taking care of health and public assistance, Bolsonaro does not protect the environment and does not fight pollution by opposing the Paris Climate Agreement, nor does he preserve our forests, fauna and flora with the devastation of the Amazon Forest that he sponsors and does not combat the causes of poverty and marginalization factors, nor does it promote social integration of the disadvantaged sectors of the Brazilian population.
Bolsonaro must be removed from the presidency of the Republic, not only for failing to comply with the provisions of Article 23 of the Constitution, but also because he practices a crime of responsibility, in accordance with Article 85 of the Constitution, by attempting against the existence of the Union by moving a war against the governors and mayors who fight against the new Coronavirus and undermining the exercise of citizens’ political, individual and social rights by framing everyone who criticizes him based on the National Security Law, an authoritarian rubble of the military dictatorship. For all the crimes committed by Bolsonaro for failing to comply with articles 23 and 85 of the Constitution that has resulted in the collective murder of the Brazilian population by the new Coronavirus, his immediate removal from power is urgent based on an impeachment that is quite justified by the facts reported above. The Chamber of Deputies has a duty to initiate an immediate impeachment process against Bolsonaro to stop the advance of the pandemic in Brazil without which it will be complicit with the crimes committed against the Brazilian people by the current holder of power in Brazil.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 81, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).
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