Rio Mayor Says Residents Will Be Banned from Going Outside without Masks

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Although failing to provide a specific date, the Mayor of Rio, Marcelo Crivella, said on Friday, April 17th, that he will issue a decree banning residents from going out on the streets without masks. The statement was made while Crivella commented on Covid-19 situation in the capital of Rio de Janeiro.

According to him, everyone must wear the protection – “from the Mayor to the Waste Collector”. In the morning, Crivella was present at the Riocentro Convention & Event Center, in the city’s west zone, where the 500-bed municipal field hospital is set up. At the time, he expressed concern about the overload on the health system, which, according to reports, is starting to show signs of collapse.

In order to reduce the waiting line for novel coronavirus patients, the city government announced ten more vacancies at the Ronaldo Gazolla Municipal Hospital, which is a benchmark for treatment of the disease in the city. The hospital was at the limit of its 50 beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The Mayor also criticized the delay in the arrival of equipment in the city. Crivella said the works of the municipal field hospital are nearly ready, but he fears the materials needed to care for patients will not arrive before the end of April.

The Mayor further complained of citizens violating social isolation, particularly in favelas and low-income neighborhoods in the municipality. “There are young people in bars, in social coexistence, who are not respecting social isolation and do not show symptoms, but who may be infecting other people in their homes or in their social interaction,” he said.

Following a line that runs counter to President Jair Bolsonaro’s claims, Crivella also advocated keeping commerce closed – and appealed to the Court of Justice (TJ) not to grant injunctions that would allow stores to open.

Source: InfoMoney