Flaunting a terrible position among the countries with more deaths of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, Brazilian people now count a year of sad losses of relatives, friends, and co-workers. A survey by the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry (CNI) states that three in four people in Brazil lost someone for COVID-19.
The second stage of the research Brazilian people, the pandemic, and consumption, released last Monday (3), shows that among those who mourn the death of a loved one due to the pandemic, 53% lost a friend, 25% a relative who did not live with them, and 15% a co-worker.
Assessing the country’s current circumstances, with a large number of deaths and lack of vaccines, the research reveals that 89% see the pandemic as a “serious” or “very serious” situation. Only 6% classify it as “sort of serious”, while 10% say it is “somewhat serious” or “not serious at all”. In July 2020, 84% of the people in Brazil characterized the pandemic as “very serious” or “serious”.
It can get worse
More than 407 thousand people died of COVID-19 in Brazil and this figure could rise to 575 thousand deaths by the beginning of August. According to projections of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington, that is the most likely scenario.
“In a worst-case scenario, the country can reach 688,7 thousand deaths in the same period. The institute also indicates the possibility of a third wave at the end of May”, reports the journalist Leonardo Sakamoto.
“The projections of the University of Washington are accurate because the historical series is stable. Even our shortcomings in terms of testing are reflected in their results”, affirmed the Secretary of Integrated Health Services at the Federal Supreme Court and former National Secretary of Health Surveillance in the Ministry of Health, the epidemiologist Wanderson Oliveira, to Sakamoto.
Great fear
Besides the irreparable losses, Brazilian people have been living in fear, which leads to other types of diseases. The research published by CNI indicates that 56% of the population is currently “extremely afraid” or “very afraid” of COVID-19.
“Last July, when another survey investigated these issues, that figure was 47%”, O Estado de S. Paulo reports. “22% of the population says they are ‘more or less’ afraid of the pandemic, while 9% say they feel ‘somewhat’ or ‘not really’ afraid of it. In July 2020, 29% of the population said they were more or less afraid of the disease, and 10% said they felt somewhat scared of it or not scared at all”.
The pandemic undermines the economy
Carried out by the Institute FSB Pesquisa, the CNI survey interviewed 2010 people over 16 years old in Brazil’s 27 federative units, from April 16th to 20th. It has a 2% margin of error and a confidence interval of 95%.
On Sunday (2), 31.875.681 people had received at least the first dose of the vaccine, as stated by the Media Outlets Consortium formed by Estadão, G1, O Globo, Extra, Folha, and UOL. “This number represents 15.05% of the Brazilian population. In practice, only three in every twenty people in Brazil have started vaccination against COVID. Merely 7.49% of the population has received the two doses”, the article informs.
Edited by: Rede Brasil Atual