Sao Paulo – Brazil’s battle against a dangerous one coronavirus The variant left its hospitals at the breaking point, with new cases increasing, and the number of deaths increased precipitously. An expert told CBS News that Americans should be “very concerned” about the prospect of the mutant virus or others still undetected to gain a foothold on US soil.
The growth of COVID-19 in Brazil is so driven very infectious P-1 strain which was first detected in that country and a highly criticized government response to the pandemic. The variant has already been found in more than half of the US states.
According to CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez, the situation in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo and across the country, is serious. When the P-1 variant started catching on last month, intensive care units in hospitals in more than half of the Brazilian states were already at a capacity of 90% or more.
CBS News directly witnessed the situation appear to be deteriorating, pushing Brazil’s robust healthcare system a step further. Every patient at the Vila Penteado General Hospital in Sao Paulo suffers from COVID-19. There is no room for others.
De Jesus told Bojorquez that, in her experience, less than half of the patients she treats are likely to recover from the disease. Surprisingly, she said that more and more of these patients are 20, 30 and 40 years old.
Unlike the ICU in the US, the wards in her hospital are open, with no barriers between patients. It feels like a worst case scenario for doctors desperately trying to save lives. Bojorquez watched as people were intubated to be placed on fans, while in another room, a patient had chest compressions. It is a daily struggle that haunts those working at the facility and countless others in Brazil.
“Most cases, the last thing I see are the nurses,” de Jesus said.
Scientists believe that the P-1 variant fuels wave. Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, a distinguished professor of neuroscience at Duke University School of Medicine, told CBS New that the strain is two and a half times easier to pass from person to person and is a concern for everyone, even and outside Brazil borders.
“If I talked to someone in Oklahoma, I’d tell them to be very worried about it,” Nicolelis told Bojorquez. “Because if Brazil gets out of control, the world will get out of control in a few weeks. Because the variants that happen here every day, every week … will get out.”
He said he spoke of the worsening threat in Brazil a few months ago, but few listened – especially President Jair Bolsonaro, who was criticized for minimizing the pandemic and fighting restrictions imposed by some governors, including in Sao Paulo.
“We are fighting two viruses right now, the coronavirus and the ‘Bolsonorovirus,'” Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria told Bojorquez.
Doria has angered Bolsonaro’s supporters, but he believes the limited restrictions he has been able to enforce in Brazil’s most populous state – home to more than 46 million people – including the closure of shopping malls, have begun to work.
He said, however, that the measures he could take without the national government boarding were simply not enough to combat the health crisis.
“We need to be united against the virus at this time, not divided, and we are divided,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then [for a] lock right now. We are in the red phase right now. It’s a blockage, a local blockage, to guide people to stay home right now. Please stay home. “
The Brazilian Ministry of Health says that about 3% of the country’s population has been completely vaccinated. The country currently uses two vaccines that have not yet been approved for use in the US, but the most widely used drugs in the US show mixed results in protecting against the P-1 variant.