One Year of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Brazil: A Political and Social Overview

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) became the deadliest pandemic of the new millennium. One year after it became a pandemic, the current COVID-19 situation in Brazil is an example of how the impacts of a pandemic are beyond health outcomes and how health, social, and political actions are intertwined. Objectives:We aimed to provide an overview of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, from a social and political point of view, and to discuss the perspectives from now on. Methods: This is a narrative review using official, scientific (PubMed, Medline, and SciELO databases) and publicly available data. Press articles were also used that contain important information not found in these databases. Findings:We address the impacts of COVID-19 in different regions of Brazil, on indigenous populations, health care workers, and how internal social contrasts impacted the pandemic's advance across the country. We also discuss key points that culminated in the country's failed management of the COVID-19 spread, such as poor management of the public health care system, disparities between public and private health care infrastructure, lack of mass testing and viral spread tracking, lack of preparedness and planning to implement strict isolation and social distancing measures, and, most importantly, political instability, a deteriorating Health Ministry and sabotaging attitudes of the country's president, including anti-scientific actions, underplaying COVID-19 severity, spreading and powering fake news about the pandemic, promoting knowingly inefficient medications for COVID-19 treatment, and interference in collective health policies, including the country's vaccination plan. Conclusions:After one year of COVID-19 and a disastrous management of the disease, Brazil has more than 11 million cases, 270,000 deaths, and the highest number of daily

Subjective sleep quality before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Brazilian rural population

“…This is likely not just an effect of aging since we did not observe the decline in sleep quality in all subgroups; however, other sociocultural factors that changed over this time period may have impacted sleep quality, including economic and political factors. 31 , 32 This decline appeared to be primarily among women and among adults 50 years or older. Further, during the COVID-19 pandemic, participants delayed their self-reported wake times resulting in an increased time in bed but not a longer sleep duration and sleep latency was slightly longer and sleep efficiency was reduced.…”

“…The method of administration varied between time points because we were not allowed to do in-person interviews, but we cannot assess whether the administration format impacted the scores. In addition, there have been other changes in Brazil over this time period, including economic declines 31 and political instability 32 ; however, it is unclear if these factors could explain differences in sleep quality by quarantine status, gender, and age. There are additional potential confounders or mediators that we were not able to examine, including socioeconomic status, household size, and employment status, which could have impacted sleep and explain why individuals were or were not compliant to quarantine.…”

Does the public know when a scientific controversy is over? Public perceptions of hydroxychloroquine in France between April 2020 and June 2021

“…Second, several people who took HCQ to treat COVID-19 infection, either through self-medication or prescription, suffered adverse effects [7] , [8] , [9] , and patients affected by diseases commonly treated with HCQ (such as malaria or lupus) faced stock-outs due to an explosion of demand for the drug [10] . Third, the debates on HCQ had a temporary impact on health policy in some countries, where exceptional authorizations of use were enacted, and a durable one in others [11] , [12] , such as in Brazil where a “hydroxychloroquine alliance” was formed between intellectuals, physicians, and politicians [13] . Fourth and lastly, the confrontational nature of the debate led to insults and attacks against doctors and scientists on the Internet [14] , [15] as well as legal actions against scientific advisers to governments, such as in France, accused of mass killing for asking to respect the rules of clinical research.…”

Repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on health professionals in the state of Rio de Janeiro / Brazil

“…References to unappreciation and lack of prospects for the future were common in the answers. Importantly, the study was conducted in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where a series of scandals rocked both the state and the city during the pandemic: corruption and changes in governors and state health secretaries [28]. Thus, when frontline healthcare workers most needed support and strengthening of government agencies, they felt the most unprotected and insecure, aggravated by payroll delays and layoffs [29].…”