President Trump said on Tuesday that he’s “considering” a travel ban on Brazil, telling reporters the country is pursuing a “herd” strategy:
Trump says he's considering a ban on travel from Brazil after it became the third country with the most cases of coronavirus pic.twitter.com/NYBiOIYjkC
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) May 20, 2020
Things are not going well in Brazil, to put it mildly:
Covid spread in Brazil is devastating. Southern Hemisphere faces mounting risk as they enter winter and covid perhaps settles into more seasonal pattern. Brazil has inadequate testing; and may be dramatically underreporting cases, hospitalizations, deaths. https://t.co/YDpd6MKKMG
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) May 20, 2020
Gray is the U.S., Brazil is in red in the graph on the right:
Brazil’s coronavirus crisis is deepening at an alarming rate. Daily death toll hits a record 1,179, infections curve one of the steepest in the world and showing no sign of flattening. HT @jakespring pic.twitter.com/m4tKvNHNpX
— Jamie McGeever (@ReutersJamie) May 19, 2020
But it’s not just Brazil. The slope of those curves above looks bad for many Latin American countries:
Brazil saw its highest number of coronavirus deaths yet Tuesday as, more than four months after COVID-19 first emerged in China, the force of the pandemic was beginning to hit hard in Latin America. https://t.co/AhRUfzBvIG pic.twitter.com/g6ttPaPqW9
— Thai PBS World (@ThaiPBSWorld) May 20, 2020
Brazil’s’ President Jair Bolsonaro is pushing for looser restriction on chloroquine to fight the virus:
“President Jair Bolsonaro is poised to loosen protocols later this week for the use of chloroquine for mild coronavirus cases despite dangerous side effects, experts’ warnings and no demonstrated success in clinical trials.” https://t.co/tiN0LIMIJV
— Mario Sergio Lima (@mariosbessa) May 20, 2020
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Brazil’s previous health minister quit after refusing to endorse the Bolsonaro plan:
Bolsonaro pushing “new protocol on chloroquine” though Health Ministry – days after previous minister quit instead of signing it – and before naming a replacement https://t.co/9WPrmCaE3P
— Brian Winter ?? (@BrazilBrian) May 20, 2020
As for chloroquine use, the science is far from settled, in either direction:
It's "a very safe drug," says Giles. But it has some risk. Scientists need to learn if it has benefits that outweigh the risk. This subtlety doesn't fit in with politics where we're supposed to be absolutely for or against all things based solely on our view of one person. @NPR
— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) May 20, 2020
The president, who says he is taking the drug, said yesterday: "It's gotten a bad reputation only because I'm promoting it." This appears true. By leaping to a conclusion, he caused others to leap to the opposite conclusion. Science does not yet support any conclusion.
— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) May 20, 2020
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