I was recently in Brazil for several weeks, namely Sao Paulo -...

I was recently in Brazil for several weeks, namely Sao Paulo - somewhere I've also previously lived - and I left about 3 weeks ago suspecting that it would be one of the next 'hot' spots for the virus, even though at the time numbers were tracking at about 200 cases. At the time, you wouldn't have noticed the rest of the world was in the midst of a crisis, with huge crowds everywhere seemingly going about their everyday life as normal, even as neighbouring countries began to tighten down. To say they are underprepared for the pandemic would be an understatement of the highest order, even ignoring the political overtones dominating the scene there.


The private system is out of reach for the overwhelming majority of the country, which puts testing out of reach to even begin with, yet alone if then talking about treatment. Meanwhile, the public system is exponentially stretched, even at the best of times. Then you consider the extent of the population, some 14 million, that live in cramped and confined favelas, where the provision of (reliable) water is not even necessarily guaranteed, making good hand hygiene practices all the more difficult, and with other sanitary conditions of ill concern - for example, they're talking about how the virus can spread through 'aerosolized feces', nothing that would be out of place in the less-regulated favelas.

As an aside, I attended a private hospital there shortly before returning home, perhaps one of two leading ones in the country, yet alone the city and state. The doctor I had my consultation with was largely dismissive of the virus, even going so far as to suggest I continue my travels and not worry about it all since I was/am healthy. Glad I didn't follow that advice. Since isolated in Aus and cleared my 2 weeks, but I did also learn that hospital has stood down 90 of its employees that have the virus.

I have little doubt testing there is not even coming close to picking up a good representation of the total cases. Testing is still not even available to a wide portion of those reporting with symptoms, and where it is, they're still dealing with delays in processing said tests. Beyond that, the poverty divide is real in Brazil. You will see no better example of that than the case that led to the first reported death in the country - a 63 year old woman who lived with 5 relatives in a cinderblock home that would travel 100km to work as a maid for a travelling businessman living in a luxury apartment in the country's most expensive neighbourhood, who returned from Italy, suspected of carrying the virus. One effectively had no access to healthcare, the other did.