Epicenter of Pandemic in Latin America now becoming Argentina

[antipodean]

Coverage

According to the BBC:

Meanwhile the virus appears to be stabilising or slowing down in hard-hit countries Brazil and Mexico. The latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control show that of the three, Argentina is currently the worst-hit according to its population size. Its 14-day cumulative number of cases was 332 per 100,000 people on Thursday.

By contrast Brazil's was 199 cases per 100,000 people, down from a peak of 304 in early August. Mexico's number was 55.

More than 12,000 people have died in Argentina of Covid-19 since March.

——

It goes without saying that the testing rate in Argentina is also significantly lower than other countries and the above stats are based only on reported cases. The overall death toll in the same period has not seen a decline with 344 more reported yesterday.

Let’s see what the President’s next announcement will be regarding the latest and greatest quarantine measures ever... in the meantime let’s not get complacent about the risk circulating out there.

 

[camberiu]

To my complete and absolute surprise, it seems that Bolsonaro was right all along in regards of how to tackle Covid-19.
The unified public health system (SUS) held together and was never overwhelmed. The Brazilian economy did not implode because a total lockdown was never implemented and it is now outperforming the rest of Latin America.

 

[semigoodlookin]

To my complete and absolute surprise, it seems that Bolsonaro was right all along in regards of how to tackle Covid-19.
The unified public health system (SUS) held together and was never overwhelmed. The Brazilian economy did not implode because a total lockdown was never implemented and it is now outperforming the rest of Latin America.

Maybe, but 130,000 deaths seems like a rough trade too. Few countries have done well managing this, and I do not count Brazil among them. Although, how to emerge from this crisis is something many countries clearly ignored so if Brazil gets back on its feet quicker, fair play. I guess it beats Argentina's road to ruin approach.

 

[Renzi]

To my complete and absolute surprise, it seems that Bolsonaro was right all along in regards of how to tackle Covid-19.
The unified public health system (SUS) held together and was never overwhelmed. The Brazilian economy did not implode because a total lockdown was never implemented and it is now outperforming the rest of Latin America.

Brazil had the strongest economy in Latin America before the pandemic so it's logical that it would be the same afterward. That doesn't mean that Bolsonaro "was right." In fact. Brazil's GDP actually shrank by almost 10% (setting a new record) in addition to having the second-highest Covid death count globally.

 

[Ruta Otto]

To which I might add it's not over yet. We may well be seeing worsening conditions in the coming months due to complacency and pandemic fatigue https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/18/pan...urope-where-france-and-spain-hit-records.html

 

[UK Man]

Argentina panicked for whatever reason and went into lockdown many months too early....maybe to impress the likes of WHO? Then they chose the worst possible time to relax the rules and now they're paying for it.
To be fair it was a tough call to make. I suspect no matter how they played it the outcome was inevitable.

 

[toongeorges]

Maybe, but 130,000 deaths seems like a rough trade too. Few countries have done well managing this, and I do not count Brazil among them. Although, how to emerge from this crisis is something many countries clearly ignored so if Brazil gets back on its feet quicker, fair play. I guess it beats Argentina's road to ruin approach.

It is unstoppable, so why try to stop it? If you take measures for one month or so to try to kill the virus ok, but the virus has come back stronger than before, it is out of control in Europe as well. Taking measures after this many months not only causes self inflicted economic damage, it also needlessly prolongs the epidemic.

Also, the virus is harmless for the great majority of people. My girlfriend's sister, her boyfriend and his daughter had it. The two females had a mild fever for one day and the guy only had a sore throat for one day, they got tested just in case.

If the virus is unstoppable + mostly harmless, governments should just let it run its course, as they do with flu viruses. The lethalithy of Covid-19 is a higher than the flu and I feel sorry for everyone who dies from it, but the lethality is also not alarmingly high. Strangely there are far fewer deaths in the second wave in Europe, or did they just forgot to test the vast majority of cases with mild symptoms in the first wave? It seems that Trump and Bolsonaro (and Sweden) did respond better than most of the world after all.

 

[semigoodlookin]

It is unstoppable, so why try to stop it? If you take measures for one month or so to try to kill the virus ok, but the virus has come back stronger than before, it is out of control in Europe as well. Taking measures after this many months not only causes self inflicted economic damage, it also needlessly prolongs the epidemic.

Also, the virus is harmless for the great majority of people. My girlfriend's sister, her boyfriend and his daughter had it. The two females had a mild fever for one day and the guy only had a sore throat for one day, they got tested just in case.

If the virus is unstoppable + mostly harmless, governments should just let it run its course, as they do with flu viruses. The lethalithy of Covid-19 is a higher than the flu and I feel sorry for everyone who dies from it, but the lethality is also not alarmingly high. Strangely there are far fewer deaths in the second wave in Europe, or did they just forgot to test the vast majority of cases with mild symptoms in the first wave? It seems that Trump and Bolsonaro (and Sweden) did respond better than most of the world after all.

To be honest, we don't let flu run its course and never have. We have treated pandemic-level flu outbreaks as we would other pandemics. We also spend billions globally each year in medical infrastructure to combat flu (people do die from flu too). We also have a multi-billion dollar industry built up around selling you over the counter drugs to stop your flu.

I am not comparing one virus to the other, and I am not sure how I feel about how far many counties went/are going with their restrictions. I just think it's disingenuous to say we do everything to stop COVID but nothing to stop flu. The regular flu that we are talking about is not pandemic, but we still expend a lot of resources to combat it.

 

[antipodean]

If the virus is unstoppable + mostly harmless, governments should just let it run its course, as they do with flu viruses. The lethalithy of Covid-19 is a higher than the flu and I feel sorry for everyone who dies from it, but the lethality is also not alarmingly high. Strangely there are far fewer deaths in the second wave in Europe, or did they just forgot to test the vast majority of cases with mild symptoms in the first wave? It seems that Trump and Bolsonaro (and Sweden) did respond better than most of the world after all.

I recall reading an article last week looking at the total amount of deaths in Argentina this time last year versus now. Result, hardly a blip in the radar (presumably because there has been less fatalities from other causes due to lockdown and isolation measures.)
Those that it has killed in Argentina are remarkably similar in age, with a very small number of "young" people in absolute terms.

The current line of talk of many scientists seems to be that the virus burns through the weakest layers of the population in the first instances (those who are more likely to die from any serious sickness, even a bad flu that turns into pneumonia.) This is why hospitals and cemeteries in Spain / France etc. are not being overwhelmed as they were in the "first wave" despite having similar or higher case numbers in many countries. Death rates could be impacted by not being able to care or treat the patients efficiently as well as other factors regarding the general health of a population.
Of course, there are many more weaklings in these places for the virus still to reach which can still put an enormous strain on health systems - but if COVID does not touch them there are thousands of other things than can touch them just as bad, just over a more spread out period of time making their fates less noticeable.

It is fair to start to discuss and ask if all this fuss is really worth or if we overreacted.
Almost all of us gave it our full efforts and attention while it was still very new and we lacked perspective.
Don't get me wrong, if we can avoid getting it or passing it from simple hygiene and distancing measures to support the health system then we must do it, but we should also be conscious that "insanity is repeating the same actions expecting a different outcome each time."
For many people who do get sick it is hardly going to be fun few weeks off work, so the personal incentive is definitely there to act responsibly and minimise your risks. For older people to take precautions the incentive is infinitely higher. Therefore the role of the state and the individual needs to be a balanced one.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

Maybe, but 130,000 deaths seems like a rough trade too. Few countries have done well managing this, and I do not count Brazil among them. Although, how to emerge from this crisis is something many countries clearly ignored so if Brazil gets back on its feet quicker, fair play. I guess it beats Argentina's road to ruin approach.

With all due respect to those who have suffered medically, paid with their lives and the family and friends who have been left behind to go on without those who they called family and friends.

The bottom line is that COVID 19 is a strain of flu. And people die from the flu each and every year. Most of the deaths are as we have seen ... old and those with pre existing conditions or weak immune systems.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. But it is accurate.

Given what we have seen and what we now know, I think the best course of action should have been to close nothing and excuse anyone who wanted to stay home or cover up in the hope of avoiding exposure / contraction.

The vast majority of the population did, is and will survive this.

There has been a lot of damage done. To our way of life, our routines, our mental well being. I am not even focussing on the financial aspect, but that has been painful as well.