Rio and São Paulo resume activities at half speed after ten days of public holidays

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro put an end on Monday, April 5, to ten days of public holidays with which the city halls have tried to contain the strong advance of Covid-19, a disease that is still out of control in Brazil and could accelerate even more after Easter.

São Paulo and Rio, with 22,725 and 20,987 deaths, respectively, are the two cities hardest hit by the coronavirus, forcing the municipalities to bring forward several public holidays to stimulate social isolation to slow the spread of the pandemic.

However, the agglomerations and clandestine parties registered during that period have raised the alarm among experts, who also fear a resurgence of the pandemic and its impact on health systems due to the Easter celebrations and in-person attendance at religious services.

“Many people saw the anticipation of the holidays as a time of leisure, of not working, and ended up traveling to the interior or to the coast, which collaborates even more for the rampant spread of the virus,” explained to Efe the infectologist Ethel Maciel.

With an average of more than 3,000 deaths per day and already close to 4,000, Brazil is the country with the second-highest number of cases of covid-19, after the United States, while the vaccination campaign is proceeding at a slow pace due to the lack of new vaccines and components for their manufacture.

Likewise, March was the most lethal month of the pandemic, with 66,573 deaths, more than twice the 30,438 recorded in February. According to data from the Ministry of Health, the country has already accumulated 331,433 deaths since the first death recorded on March 12, 2020.

For infectologist Igor Maia Marinho, the out-of-control health crisis is a “direct reflection” of non-compliance with the restriction rules. The meetings were recorded last December and January, something that could be repeated after the Easter holidays.

“What we see is that with those family agglomerations, such as Christmas, New Year’s, or Carnaval, we immediately perceive an expressive increase in the number of hospitalizations, two to three weeks after those gatherings,” he pointed out to Efe.

“Celebrations at home, among families, are especially worrying because they give that false sense of security that everyone is protected,” he added.

Given the serious scenario and the possible easing of restrictions in the coming days, both experts advocate adopting tougher measures to prevent the country from reaching the mark of 5,000 deaths per day, which could happen in the next few weeks.

“Some states adopted restrictions, but in an isolated way, there is no coordinated action at the national level. We are still keeping numbers of new daily cases very high, and we will see the reflections in the next two, three, four weeks,” Maciel stressed.

Adding to the lack of national action is the slowness of Brazil’s vaccination process, which has only managed to immunize just over 9% of its 212 million inhabitants since the campaign began in mid-January.

“Our pace of vaccination is languid, while the rate of contagion is still speedy. In that race, unfortunately, the virus is winning,” he noted.

SLIGHT TREND OF IMPROVEMENT

Despite the high numbers, the quarantines are already beginning to show modest signs of improvement, especially in stabilizing the number of patients hospitalized. However, their firmest effects should only be felt in about 15 days.

In the state of Sao Paulo, which has been under severe social restrictions since the beginning of March, the number of hospitalizations has shown a downward trend in the last week. However, admissions remain at high levels, with 29,962 patients hospitalized.

“Right now, we see a reduction in hospitalizations; it seems that we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Marinho said.

However, the infectologist warned that both the number of cases and deaths would continue to grow during April before finally moving to a more forceful decline, possibly in May.

“If we maintain the restrictive measures, care and finally make progress in vaccination, in a few weeks we will have an improvement, a respite in hospitals,” he said.