Let's see what South America's Trump is saying now that "natural herd immunity" and a "little flu" is killing people in record numbers as Bolsonaro continues his no lock-down and anti-vaccine rampage. Now that Sweden is addressing the errors in their public health policies and are about to enter a full lockdown -- I would invite jem and his buddies pushing natural herd immunity nonsense to go purchase some plane tickets and go visit Brazil to see what a no lock-down paradise looks like. I can only take it they enjoy seeing human misery and suffering. After record COVID-19 deaths, Bolsonaro tells Brazilians to stop 'whining' https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-idUSKBN2AX114 After two straight days of record COVID-19 deaths in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday told Brazilians to stop “whining” and move on, in his latest remarks attacking distancing measures and downplaying the gravity of the pandemic. Brazil has the world’s second-highest death toll over the past year, after the United States. While the U.S. outbreak is ebbing, Brazil is facing its worst phase of the epidemic yet, pushing its hospital system to the brink of collapse. “Enough fussing and whining. How much longer will the crying go on?” Bolsonaro told a crowd at an event. “How much longer will you stay at home and close everything? No one can stand it anymore. We regret the deaths, again, but we need a solution.” The Health Ministry registered 75,102 additional cases of coronavirus on Thursday, the most in a single day since July and the second-highest on record. Brazil also recorded 1,699, decreasing slightly from the previous two days of record deaths. Brazil’s surging second wave has triggered new restrictions in its capital, Brasilia, and its largest city, Sao Paulo. Tourist mecca Rio de Janeiro on Thursday announced a city-wide curfew and early closing time for restaurants. The federal government has been slow to purchase and distribute vaccines, with less than 3.5% of the population having gotten one shot. The government is working to obtain additional vaccines from more suppliers. The Health Ministry is negotiating to buy 2 million additional Pfizer doses by May, 16.9 million Janssen doses by September and 63 million doses of the Moderna vaccine by January 2022, according to documents reviewed by Reuters on Thursday. Particularly worrying to health authorities is the emergence of a new coronavirus variant from the Amazon region that appears more contagious and more able to reinfect those who have already had COVID-19. Government-affiliated medical institute Fiocruz said that it has detected the Amazon, United Kingdom and South African variants spreading in various places across the country. “We are experiencing the worst outlook for the pandemic since it started,” said Gonzalo Vecina Neto, a medical doctor and former head of Brazilian health regulator Anvisa. “Mutations are the result of the increased reproduction of the virus. The greater the number of viruses, the faster the transmission, the more mutations we have,” he said State governors and doctors have complained that the federal government has mismanaged the coronavirus crisis, as Bolsonaro has downplayed its severity and opposed lockdowns. Nevertheless, Bolsonaro’s popularity has been supported by 322 billion reais ($57.7 billion) in emergency aid payments to poorer Brazilians last year. The Senate voted on Thursday to renew the aid program at a smaller scale, handing out 250 reais per month for four months, at a cost of up to 44 billion reais. The proposal must still be approved by Brazil’s lower house of Congress.
Interesting NPR report but also very disappointed in their coverage. Not sure why they chose to go out around the topic of vaccines and that the Brazilians hooked their wagons to the Chinese vaccine which- by all accounts- has only been mediocre and now seems to be flat out failing against the new Brazilian variant even where there has been supply. A lot of the third world is dependent on these Chinese vaccines, or that is the plan anyway. And WHO's plan. And I wont beat the topic again but just as a reminder the US just gave WHO 2 billion to buy covax vaccines which will probably be mostly Chinese vaccines. I would like to see some media reporting on how they are working out. OR NOT. Of course, it is not clear either that the American and other vaccines work against the Brazilian variant either but at least they start out in a better place in that the Chinese and Russian ones are weak against even current variants- to the extent that we can get information. I looked at the curve for Brazil and, yeh, the data backs up the way they feel. They are at their highest point and still climbing and it has been high for a long time. They didnt really get much of break between waves.
Keep in mind that Bolsonaro rejected the western vaccines first -- very vocally --- before the country turned to the Chinese. Cost is likely an issue and the Chinese agreed to use Brazil as a vaccination test ground for the Sinovac since they could not use China as a proving ground since the country did not have a high enough infection level while Brazil did for a "Phase 3" trial. Unfortunately the trial of the Sinovac vaccine in Brazil showed it was effectively worthless against the Brazil variant. Sinovac in Brazil in the Latest Vaccine News thread... https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/latest-vaccine-news.343809/page-69#post-5339091
I dont know. I will roll with the reports on Brazil but all news present past coming out of China is suspect on anything, including that whole rap about not having enough cases to test. What a crock that was and is. China is actually working licensing schemes with Brazil and Indonesia and a couple other such countries such that they help them to manufacture but avoid regulatory approval and liability by passing that to the local countries and that is probably the reason why they came up with that scam about not having enough cases. I dont know. Maybe it is true maybe it is total bullshiit. So far, put me down for "bullshit."
Nevermind China. How about those North Koreans? Apparently they have had zero cases. God bless the commies! They are so truthful and transparent!
Do you really trust the data info about Covid-19 out of North Korea involving the suppose zero cases ??? Their neighbor south (South Korea) has excellent Covid-19 performance although many in United States / Canada don't talk about such except for Doctors. My girlfriend (ICU nurse) hospital here in Québec...their doctors and nurses are very aware of the great performances by countries like New Zealand, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea...they've actually reached out to them for advice and even recently had a 1 hour teleconference with two of those countries to learn about tactics against Covid... Several of Québec public health officials also participated in the conference. South Korea are able to continue their excellent performance against Covid-19 since Day 1 of the Pandemic. Thus, its possible North Korea has excellent performance numbers too similar to South Korea but I doubt its zero cases. Maybe, something I would believe, North Korea shoots (executes) those that become infected with Covid-19 prior to admitting them to the hospital...it keeps the Covid-19 death numbers low nor do they have to report those that had been infected ??? I said that to a Doctor here in Québec via telephone as a joke because he knows I served in the military for the U.S. Army in South Korea for a few years and lived there for almost 2 years after I exited the military... He didn't think my "execution joke" was funny. On the flip side, we have a shortage of nurses and doctors...have now begun to recruit from other countries as stated @ https://www.cicnews.com/2021/03/que...road-to-fill-shortages-0317286.html#gs.vgadyg I believe Québec should reach out to the Asian health professionals in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea that speak French and have a ton of experience with Covid-19 via offering them a ton of money and instant status through the immigration process to citizenship... Similar to what Québec did for migrant workers that were on the refugee list and wanted to work / live in Québec or had recently arrived without citizenship just prior to the start of the Pandemic...that weren't afraid to work in our Long Term Care facilities. Many were moved to the front line of the citizenship process...those that spoke French and had qualified experience caring for the elderly. Plus they were offered double / triple the pay to prevent them from working multiple jobs on low pay...this help minimize the spread from LTC to other LTC or other jobs very fast here in Québec. Unfortunately, we have problems in other areas involving community spread especially in the ethnic communities. wrbtrader
For "Great Barrington Declaration" advocates Brazil should be the ultimate paradise. The country has no federal restrictions, a President who calls COVID "a little flu" while urging people to stop whining about it. Brazil is the pinnacle example of everything "no-lockdown" promoters have been pushing. Let's see how things are going there... Hospitals at breaking point as Brazil hits new COVID deaths record https://www.axios.com/brazil-hits-c...med-3905869b-a3ad-4439-b200-2096a98bb8bc.html Brazil is facing "overload and even collapse of health systems" because of surging COVID-19 cases, a report by the state-run Fiocruz institute warned Tuesday, as the country set a new daily coronavirus deaths record. Driving the news: The institute said over 80% of intensive care unit beds are occupied in 25 of Brazil's 27 state capitals. In Rio de Janeiro, 93% of ICU beds are occupied and Brasília has only 3% available. The cities of Campo Grande (106%) and Porto Alegre (102%) have exceeded capacity. Brazil's health ministry on Tuesday reported 1,972 more deaths from the coronavirus and 70,764 new cases. For the record: The country has recorded the second-highest number of deaths (268,370) from the coronavirus after the U.S. (527,643), according to Johns Hopkins data. It has reported the third-highest number of cases in the world — over 11.1 million since the pandemic began . What they're saying: Fiocruz epidemiologist Jesem Orellana told AFP the "fight against COVID-19 was lost in 2020" and there's "not the slightest chance of reversing this tragic circumstance" in the first half of this year. "The best we can do is hope for the miracle of mass vaccination or a radical change in the management of the pandemic," he added. "Today, Brazil is a threat to humanity and an open-air laboratory where impunity in management seems to be the rule." Of note: President Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly downplayed the virus, said last week Brazilians should stop "whining" about the pandemic and leave home, despite stay-at-home orders imposed by local authorities, per Reuters.
And yet they are #25 in the list of highest deaths per 1M pop, with countries like Belgium, the UK, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, the US, Spain, Bulgaria, Peru, France, Panama, Sweden, and Mexico as examples - all worse off. In Cases per 1M Pop, they are much better at #38, with much of the developed world ahead of them. Doesn't look all that bad to me.
Brazil Breaks Record and Surpasses USA in New Deaths by Covid per Million Inhabitants Brazilians live the worst moment of the pandemic, while Americans see a decrease in deaths https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/inter...deaths-by-covid-per-million-inhabitants.shtml The number of new Covid-19 deaths in Brazil per million habitants surpassed that of the United States. With 1,840 new deaths (record so far), Brazil had a moving average of 6.3 new death records for every one million people on Wednesday. There were 2,468 new deaths in the USA, which represents 5.5 deaths per million, also considering the moving average. The difference between the two countries will likely widen. In the USA, deaths are falling, while Brazil has recorded daily records for new deaths. This metric makes it possible to compare the pandemic's impact across countries, regardless of population size. In the total pandemic, Americans are still the ones who lost the most people due to the pandemic. But, at this moment, the numbers show that the Brazilian situation is worse.