Brazil crosses 1 million Coronavirus cases.

Brazilians bury a victim of the Coronavirus. BBC. 

Brazil has crossed 1 million Coronavirus cases with 49,000 deaths making them the second worst hit country in the world. BBC. A record number of new cases were announced today, but that was likely due to reporting problems. President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized for not taking the virus seriously and not issuing a national lockdown. Bolsonaro has opposed lockdowns due to the economic damage they do, but several local officials and governors have issued lockdowns. 

My Comment:

As the pandemic fades from public consciousness, it's important to note that the virus is still raging in Brazil. In America the Coronavirus is pretty much an afterthought except when the media wants to use it as a hammer to attack President Trump.  

I have a couple of ideas as to why the virus is spreading so fast in Brazil. First of all, the weather might have something to do with it. It's winter in Brazil which seems to help the virus spread as people are spending more time in side. 

Population density has a lot to do with it as well. From what I understand most people in Brazil live in packed cities which is where the virus has done the most amount of damage. There is a huge difference between a small town, where a victim is likely only to spread the virus to their housemates and a big city where simply walking a block could potentially expose hundreds of people. 

I don't know how much blame Bolsonaro deserves for this. Bolsonaro did not issue a lockdown but I don't know how much that really helped the countries that did. America had a very long lockdown that devastated the economy but it hasn't seemed to stop the virus from spreading. It may have stopped the hospitals from being overwhelmed but other than that I don't think there was much accomplished. 

I do think that the media is unfairly blaming him, simply because he's right wing. The BBC was the most balanced article and even they spent a large portion of if attacking Bolsonaro. I think there is a good argument that Bolsonaro did the right thing, but he will never get any credit for it, just like President Trump will never get credit from the media for his accomplishments. 

Things will probably get worse in Brazil before they get better, but they will get better. I think that Brazil's hands off approach is likely to mean that they will reach herd immunity before anyone else. The same amount of people will likely die regardless but that means the economic damage will be a lot more limited.