Sao Paulo – Brazil’s fight against a dangerous coronavirus variant has left its hospitals at a breaking point, with new cases skyrocketing and the death toll suddenly rising. An expert told CBS News that Americans “should be very concerned about” the prospect of the mutant virus, or others not yet discovered, gaining a foothold on US soil.
Brazil’s COVID-19 surge is driven by both the highly contagious P-1 strain first discovered 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.
As CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports, the situation in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo, and across the country, is dire. When the P-1 variant started to grow last month, hospital intensive care units in more than half of the Brazilian states already had a capacity of 90% or more.
CBS News witnessed firsthand how the situation appears to be getting worse, pushing Brazil’s robust healthcare system to the brink of collapse. Every patient at Geral de Vila Penteado Hospital in Sao Paulo suffers from COVID-19. There is no room for others.
De Jesus told Bojorquez that, according to her, less than half of the patients she treats are likely to recover from the disease. Surprisingly, she said that more and more of those patients are in their twenties, thirties and forties.
Unlike ICUs in the US, her hospital’s wards are open, with no barriers between patients. It feels like a worst-case scenario for the medics desperately trying to save lives. Bojorquez watched as people were intubated to be placed on fans, while in another room a patient received chest compressions. It’s a daily battle that haunts those who work at the facility, and countless others across Brazil.
“Most of the cases, the last thing they see is me, the nurses,” de Jesus said.
Scientists believe the P-1 variant provides fuel the waveDr. Miguel Nicolelis, a Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience at Duke University’s School of Medicine, told CBS New that the species can be passed from person to person two and a half times as easily, and that is a concern for everyone, even outside of that of Brazil. boundaries.
“If I were to talk to someone in Oklahoma, I would tell him or her to be very concerned about it,” Nicolelis told Bojorquez. “Because if Brazil gets out of hand, the world will get out of hand in a few weeks. Because varieties that brew here every day, every week … they will escape.”
He said he spoke out about the worsening threat in Brazil months ago, but few listened, notably President Jair Bolsonaro, who criticized for downplaying the pandemic and fighting restrictions put in place by some governors, including those of Sao Paulo.
“We are currently fighting against two viruses, 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 shopping malls closing, are starting to show results.
But he said the measures he can take without the national government getting on board are simply not enough to combat the health crisis.
“We need to be united against the virus right now, not divided, and we are divided,” he said. “We advocate [for a] lockdown now. We are currently in the red phase. It’s a lockdown, a local lockdown, to orient people to stay at home at the moment. Please stay home. ‘
Brazil’s Ministry of Health says that about 3% of the country’s population is fully vaccinated. The country is currently using two vaccines that are not yet approved for use in the US, but the drugs most commonly used in the US show mixed results in protecting against the P-1 variant.