玩偶姐姐

As 玩偶姐姐s, we are guests in the country.
We must do what we can and hope for the best.

OK - that post is a "plant" to generate discussion and I'll bite:
1) What are my views on the current situation?
It is simply disheartening to see that we've not been able to tackle this health situation more intelligently.
2) How do I feel about the way authorities have been reacting (which I'd change to responding)?
I'm impressed that a number of societies (the citizens) have let their leaders get away with demonstrating a huge lack of understanding and ability to address this pandemic. Leaders are supposed to lead. That enables citizens to do their parts to address societal challenges.
3) Am I planning on staying in Brazil or returning to my home country (U.S.A.)?
I'm staying. Part of my family lives here. Part of my family lives there.

I do not know why the "玩偶姐姐 Editorial Team" feels it necessary to ask these questions and stir up trouble.聽 You won't benefit your site this way.聽 But since you asked, I will say what I have to say.

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

In the United States, more and more evidence is coming out that the numbers were heavily manipulated for political purposes ...not to say that covid is not a real illness, but that the danger and the threat was heavily exaggerated.聽 One of the things that was done was that the regimen for the covid test was arranged in such a way as to produce a large number of false positive results and a very large number of people were tested ...so that there were a large number of people who were counted as cases even though they had no symptoms and they were not passing the disease to others.聽 Another thing that was done was that the covid government handouts made it so that hospitals which recorded covid cases and covid deaths received extra money for every covid-related case and death.聽 Thus many, many cases of standard influenza and pneumonia were diagnosed as covid, and many standard deaths were recorded as covid.聽 There were documented situations of people with multiple gunshot wounds whose death certificate read covid as cause of death, also people in serious car accidents.聽 If you look at the charts in the USA, both for cases and for deaths, you might come to the conclusion that a miracle occurred the day Biden took office, the way that the trends immediately changed mightily .....

I don't know what is going on in Brazil, I'm not there at the moment, but I do know that there is a contingent of the population which virulently dislikes the current President.聽 It just makes me to wonder.....

"Reality is real.", so I have no interest in arguing against covid denialism.聽 Here's the reality I know, in Manaus, Amazonas, on March 19, 2021:

1. TEN of my in-laws so far have been diagnosed with covid-19 during the past year:聽 this is nothing like "standard influenza or pneumonia".聽 None have required hospitalization, thank God, but some have been very sick, sometimes for weeks.聽 Most of them are Bolsonaristas, so they have no political reason for a false claim, quite the contrary, if anything.

2. Last month, ICU patients in this city were suffocating in their beds, because Manaus, a city of almost 2.5 million people, ran out of oxygen.聽 聽That, also, is a situation we've never seen with "standard influenza or pneumonia".聽 The authorities, up to and including the Federal Health Ministry, had at least three weeks' warning of the impending disaster.聽 Nothing was done until ICU patients started suffocating.聽 Congress and the courts are investigating.

3. As of yesterday,聽 the ICUs of 25 of Brazil's 27 capitals (Bras铆lia plus 26 states) were 80% full or more; 19 of the 25 were at 90% or more.聽 This has been true for a couple of weeks now, and is not normal.

4. The Press began reporting yesterday that Brazil only has a twenty day supply of the medications required to put and keep patients on ventilators.聽 The Health Ministry is aware of it, but is distracted with yet another change at the top,聽 with the fourth Minister since the pandemic started coming in.聽 This could become another Manaus oxygen crisis, but nationwide.

5. On the positive side, vaccinations are proceeding, although more slowly than they should be, because the government was slow in purchasing vaccines, and wasted weeks in squabbling with states and manufacturers, and wasted time and money pushing ineffective and potentially harmful treatments.

This is my home, so I'm not considering "returning" anywhere.聽 聽Even if it were,聽 it wouldn't be easy:聽 most countries I would want to go to are currently barring flights from Brazil.聽 As a dual Brazilian/ US citizen,聽 I suppose that I'd be allowed into the US, but I'm not sure that my Brazilian spouse would be, so that's off the table.聽 We'll wait it out, get vaccinated asap, and maintain social distancing in the meantime.

Currently and for quite some time now, the US consulates have not been doing any interviews for any new applications for Visas for entry to the USA from Brazil, however any individual who has a valid Visa obtained previously, can still use it.
US Dept of State is reviewing the situation with a proposal on the table now to reinstate the new Visa application process in approximately 8 more weeks.

Also there are still daily flights between Houston, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale and Sau Paulo, Campinhas.聽 Big, empty dreamliners, you can usually stretch out ....

hey there abthree.聽 thank you for your input.聽 I'm of the anti-measures crowd but am open to information however it may come, except for mainstream media.聽 And WHO.聽 And a few others.

I hope the resources improve in your neck of the woods.

The degree of correlation between high levels of cases and deaths of covid and conservative, right-leaning political leadership, is positively frightening.聽 Any thoughtful observant person, of any political persuasion whatsoever, must be given to wonder if there is a relationship and if so what is its nature.聽 Witness, for example, the remarkable and almost miraculous decline of cases and deaths in the USA beginning on the very day that Biden took office.聽 Regardless of how I happen to feel about Bolsonaro's leadership, I must speculate that his days in office are numbered .....

I believe the question was about Brazil, not the US.

Inubia wrote:

The degree of correlation between high levels of cases and deaths of covid and conservative, right-leaning political leadership, is positively frightening.聽 Any thoughtful observant person, of any political persuasion whatsoever, must be given to wonder if there is a relationship and if so what is its nature.聽 Witness, for example, the remarkable and almost miraculous decline of cases and deaths in the USA beginning on the very day that Biden took office.聽 Regardless of how I happen to feel about Bolsonaro's leadership, I must speculate that his days in office are numbered .....

The question is about Brasil, not US politics.聽 There are other forums for you to talk about that.

My fianc茅 and I have been stranded apart for 15 months while this pandemic rages on. She in Rio, Me in the US. Her mother passed last May, and COVID is strongly suspected.聽 There is no way either of us are getting into a flying Petri dish until we are both vaccinated and can鈥檛 spread it unwittingly to the other. We are at a standstill in our K1 process for now because of COVID.聽 I have had both jabs of Pfizer, but she has yet to have her first jab of whatever they will be giving out when her turn comes up.聽
The schedule for Rio says soon, but from what she鈥檚 seen, supply interruptions and insufficient quantities of Vaccines make that a fluid target, more of a wishlist.聽 The situation in Brazil is one of failed leadership.

Inubia wrote:

The degree of correlation between high levels of cases and deaths of covid and conservative, right-leaning political leadership, is positively frightening.聽 Any thoughtful observant person, of any political persuasion whatsoever, must be given to wonder if there is a relationship and if so what is its nature.聽 Witness, for example, the remarkable and almost miraculous decline of cases and deaths in the USA beginning on the very day that Biden took office.聽 Regardless of how I happen to feel about Bolsonaro's leadership, I must speculate that his days in office are numbered .....

Must you bring your Kool-aid induced U.S. politics into this group?

tlj7800

My spouse and I did the long-distance US-Brazil thing for three years -- thank God for WhatsApp!聽 I hate to even imagine it with covid-19 thrown in.聽 All the best to you in working out your plans.

I thought that Inubia WAS talking about Brazil (not the US) when he started his post talking about "conservative, right leaning, political leadership." Isn't that generally accepted as a description of the current Brazillian political reality?

Drjmagic wrote:

I thought that Inubia WAS talking about Brazil (not the US) when he started his post talking about "conservative, right leaning, political leadership." Isn't that generally accepted as a description of the current Brazillian political reality?

Well, he starts his rant with 鈥淚n the United States...鈥�, so no.聽 He鈥檚 not talking about Brasil. He has mistaken this international platform for a domestic US hard-right conspiracy site.

abthree wrote:

tlj7800

My spouse and I did the long-distance US-Brazil thing for three years -- thank God for WhatsApp!聽 I hate to even imagine it with covid-19 thrown in.聽 All the best to you in working out your plans.

Yup! Whatsapp and FaceTime. We haven鈥檛 seen each other in person since mid-January, 2020. The Pandemic has deeply impacted us.

I stand corrected.聽 I didn't look back at the entire thread

Veedushi wrote:

Brazil has just recorded a new hike in the number of Covid-19 cases, and the vaccination campaign hasn't taken off yet.聽 (posted March 18)

As expats, what are your views on the current situation?

How do you feel about the way local authorities are reacting?

Are you looking to stay in Brazil or considering a return to your home country ?

Veedushi
玩偶姐姐 Editorial Team

The current situation in Brazil is horrible.

NBC's chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, reported tonight that the covid disaster has gone from "bad to much worse."

Over 4,000 died in Brazil on Tuesday (April 6) due to covid, a record in Brazil.聽 The NBC report described the current covid wave as at least as bad as the worst covid period in the USA, which has the most covid-attributed deaths of any country.

Engel pointed out that Brazil borders on ten other countries in South America.

A doctor interviewed for the report said Brazil needs to buy vaccines from the international market.

IMO, 玩偶姐姐s who are not fully established in Brazil need to think hard about plans to potentially move out of a covid-impacted locality that is getting hammered.聽 Even following events from outside the country, it is obvious that the national administration has been repeatedly botching the task at hand, for many months.

cccmedia

I am very happy to be in a reasonably free country, Bolso is my hero at this point. He is one of the few leaders in the world brave enough to withstand massive pressure to unreasonably shut down his society. Well done Senhor Presidente.

pup8617 wrote:

I am very happy to be in a reasonably free country, Bolso is my hero at this point. He is one of the few leaders in the world brave enough to withstand massive pressure to unreasonably shut down his society. Well done Senhor Presidente.

...Would it not have been better to lockdown early and vaccinate, so the economy could be opened up more quickly? Other countries that have adopted these methods have not suffered anything like Brazil.

The president, a former army captain who has praised Brazil鈥檚 1964-85 military dictatorship, last year spoke at a demonstration where participants called for a state of emergency and the shutdown of the supreme court. Bolsonaro has appointed a large number of former military personnel to senior positions in his government. And now that his own position is coming under threat, he has openly raised the idea of some form of military intervention in Brazilian politics by claiming in June that the armed forces would not accept 鈥渁bsurd decisions鈥� by the nation鈥檚 supreme court or Congress. Would you be happy with military rule under Bolsonaro?

pup8617 wrote:

I am very happy to be in a reasonably free country, Bolso is my hero at this point. He is one of the few leaders in the world brave enough to withstand massive pressure to unreasonably shut down his society. Well done Senhor Presidente.

As a guest in a country that seen over 360,000 deaths during the past year, now has between 3000 and 4000 new deaths every day, saw patients suffocating in ICUs a month ago when they ran out of oxygen, and has vaccination delays in many states because the government didn't bother to order enough vaccines in time, it would be wise to be very, very careful which Brazilians you share those sentiments with.聽 All of those losses can be laid squarely to the charge of government incompetence and negligence.聽 The person you're talking to may have already lost family members or friends to covid, and if not, almost certainly knows people who have.聽 Brazilians are famously tolerant of the most astonishing gaffes from foreigners, but at this point in the pandemic there's just so much human nature can stand.聽 So please, for their sake and your own, tread carefully.

An update to my post of March 19 on this subject.

As it happens, March 19 was a Friday, and I filed my US聽 taxes the same day, planning on calling my Brazilian accountant on Monday to do my Brazilian taxes.聽 She called the next day to check up on me, beating me to it, and we had a good laugh about our ESP.聽 The conversation soon turned somber, though, when she told me that she's lost a brother, a sister-in-law, and an niece, the whole family, to covid this year.聽 I think that, as we begin to come out of social distancing, many of us are going to find ourselves facing that kind of belated bad news, and grief for friends.

I just watch old WWII films not seen before, One scene they lost 12000 men in 5 weeks. I turn to my Brazilian who said "wow". Think about it , Brazilians are dying at 3000 per day and no war,