Monday April 6: While the number of deaths from Covid-19 broke a new record in Brazil – 4,195 deaths in twenty-four hours – Araraquara savored its victory over the virus. For the first time in a month and a half, no deaths caused by the disease were to be deplored in this industrial city of 240,000 inhabitants – one of the few, in the prosperous state of São Paulo, still in the hands of the Party of workers (PT). That week, the virus didn’t kill anyone for four days. This is the result of the strict confinement imposed at the end of February by Mayor Edson da Silva, whom even his opponents call by his nickname “Edinho”. The voice is tired at the end of the line. Edinho is not jubilant: “It’s a constant struggle, we are facing the greatest tragedy in the history of Brazil.”
For ten days, Araraquara was the laboratory of a taboo experiment in Brazil because of Jair Bolsonaro’s fierce opposition to any restriction on free movement: the lockdown (“Confinement”) word used here in English, as if to underline its extreme side. “We had no choice, justifies the aedile. The Brazilian variant has changed the game. We detected it at the end of January, thanks to massive screening. Until then, our health system provided a rapid response to the virus. ” But in a few weeks, he falters. The contaminations curve is flying away. That of deaths too, in a city that proudly displayed one of the lowest mortalities in the country.
Health chaos
“The new strain is very virulent, témoigne Edinho. It came by land from Manaus, where most of the electronics and two-wheelers sold in Brazil are made. Araraquara, a crossroads city, would inevitably be affected. ” Unless of course if the internal borders had been closed, which was never considered despite the health chaos that had seized the Amazon city at the beginning of the year. “Bolsonaro knew what awaited Brazil, he could have taken the lead, summoned the industry to increase the production of oxygen and drugs to facilitate intubation, resumed the mayor. He did not do anything.”
Sunday February 21, at noon sharp, the sirens sounded the start of an even more draconian confinement than in Europe. Public transport was suspended, supermarkets had to close. Ricardo is a teacher. His wife, a social worker, has never worked so hard as during confinement. “People were asking for food aid, he testifies. Many cannot afford to stock up in advance. ” Consequently, it was necessary to reopen prematurely.
“Death threats”
As specialists call for nationwide containment, Araraquara is leading the way. «Edinho a eu du courage, comments journalist Raphael Pena. He received death threats for daring to close the city. Right and far right are at the maneuver here.” “If other mayors did like him, there would be fewer deaths in Brazil”, adds Terezinha, carer. These days, his 86-year-old employer had to be hospitalized. “Without lockdown, we would not have found a place for him in the hospital. ” With the sharp decline in contaminations and hospitalizations, Araraquara can even afford the luxury of helping neighboring towns, where a large proportion of the patients currently hospitalized come from.
Rita has had little taste for restrictions. “The deserted streets looked like a field of ruins, the police stopped people walking around, but the bandits, them, still running, this retiree scolds. The year is well under way and the country is paralyzed. What are people going to live on? They should be educated, instead of shutting everything down. ” Bolsonaro does the opposite, preaching against wearing a mask, but Rita pretends to ignore it.
– .
