In Brazil, COVID kills along racial lines

[Judi Lynn]

written by Gloria Paiva



Published on
January 4, 2021

In Brazil, most of the 190,000 dead from COVID are of one particular skin color and social class: they are Black and poor. While the president and the No Vax movements are denying the need and urgency for mass vaccination, pre-existing racial and social inequalities are deepening as infections are rising, highlighting regional, social, gender, income, educational, and healthcare access disparities.

This is evidenced by several studies that have focused on the topic, such as that of the Pólis Institute. According to a survey by the institute conducted in the city of São Paulo, the mortality rate due to COVID of Black and mestizo people between March and July of this year was 172 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, while the mortality rate of the white population was 115 deaths per 100,000.

The first case of a person dead from COVID-19 in Brazil was emblematic: on March 17, a 63-year-old Black waitress, previously suffering from diabetes and hypertension, died from the virus after being infected by her employer, who had just arrived from a trip to Italy.

“It was the middle and upper class, tourists or business people who came from Europe, who introduced the virus to Brazil. Then, the pandemic reached the periphery, where remote work, social distancing and even sanitation are not a reality for many people,” explains Eliseu Alves Waldman, a professor in the department of epidemiology at the University of São Paulo (USP).

More:
https://global.ilmanifesto.it/in-brazil-covid-kills-along-racial-lines/