MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
South America becomes a new epicenter of Covid-19 pandemic
South America has become “a new epicenter” of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, following a surge in the number of Covid-19 infections. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesDo they mean S. America is the new epicentre, or Brazil is?
May 23rd, 2020 - 04:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Pugol-H
May 24th, 2020 - 02:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0I would imagine most the Latin American statistics are about as reliable as the transparency and honest governance in each of our nations.
Chile has registered over 57k cases, 544 deaths (of which 35 in the past 24 hours) and 22,504 recovered. There is very strong evidence there is a large percentage of asymtomatic cases.
We are living in a nightmare, but we just haven't awaken yet.
They think some 30%+ of cases here are asymptomatic, which meant by the time they realised it was here, it had already spread.
May 24th, 2020 - 04:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They are now starting testing for anti-bodies, even though they are still not sure if you have immunity, it will tell us how far it has spread already.
Chicureo / Pugol-H
May 26th, 2020 - 07:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Brazil, by far, has the worse numbers. The governor of SP and the mayor of the City of São Paulo, have done all they can - short of arresting people - to try to get them to stay home, but isolation seldom reaches more than 50%....on a daily basis the news shows the people in poor suburbs walking around the streets, quite a few without masks, and some 'favelas' have even promoted 'pancadões' (street parties where hundreds get together to dance to loud, primitive music (if it can be called 'music')....total disregard for their own safety, and total disrespect towards those who are complying with the isolation. Not surprising that the infection curve is still shooting up.
In the UK this virus has seriously, disproportionately affected Black/Asian people, to the extent that Black/Asian people are something like twice as likely to dye of this as a White person of similar age and sex.
May 27th, 2020 - 11:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0I assume that the 'favelas' are going to be mostly a black population, in which case, well, it actually doesn’t bear thinking about what will happen.
I note the WHO have banned the use of Bolsanaro and Trumps favourite drug for treating the virus, apparently it has side effects. Which do not appear to include turning either of them sensible.
Pugol
May 27th, 2020 - 08:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0After the initial rage over hidroxychloroquine, it started to become clear it was not only not effective, but dangerous if used for what it was not intended. This simple notion has still not sunk into their heads, despite the whole medical and scientific community repeating it incessantly.
Your right, the black population here - ranging from very black to light skinned “mulatos” - is more prone to it, because most of them live in 'favelas'....so it is their lifestyle that makes them more vulnerable. But then again, they are the ones you see walking around the streets, without a care....don't believe they are uninformed, but simply not convinced - until they lose a family member or close friend to it..
The way things are going - blatant disrespect by many of the basic safety measures, combined with an already announced (as of June) very gradual reopening of certain sectors of the economy - I think it's going to be around for still some time.
Meanwhile, I'm not taking any chances.
JB
May 28th, 2020 - 02:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0From the figures I have seen, mixed race people seem to be at no more risk than whites. Although they live mostly in the minority communities.
As for the reason(s) for the disproportional effect on minorities, already bleeding heart liberals and activists are crying, it’s evidence of institutional racism, underlying disadvantages, minorities live in poorer areas, more crowed etc. etc.
Social factors will of course have an effect, but it is not the main effect in play here, any more than “social factors” explain why twice as many men dye of this compared to women.
Biology is part of the reason, there is a genetic component to this viruses effect, a consultant I saw interviewed (an Asian doctor working for the NHS) said, “amongst white people it is predominantly affecting the elderly, amongst minorities it was also effecting middle aged people, especially men.”
The 'favelas' have ideal conditions for spreading the virus, amongst a population which is especially vulnerable to the virus.
A recipe for a disaster of Biblical proportions, without doubt.
All you can do is protect yourself.
I haven't seen anyone saying it's institutional racism. They've speculated factors that could explain it include demographic ones (overcrowding, larger households and extended families living together), types of jobs that give more or less exposure, and especially that pre-existing conditions like diabetes and obesity are more common among certain ethnicities. Plus not to be underestimated is that the epidemic is focused in London and other big cities where the population composition is very different to the UK as a whole.
May 28th, 2020 - 04:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You don't need to know the race of people living in overcrowded favelas with poor sanitary facilities to realise they are in far greater danger. Very few will be able to work from home and most cannot afford to take time off from earning money, so how are they supposed to avoid infection?
Doreen Lawrence when interviewed about heading the Labour party inquiry into the issue stated it as a reason, nothing like starting with an open mind.
May 28th, 2020 - 07:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0All 15 doctors known to have died from the virus were from minority ethnic backgrounds, unlikely to have come from “underprivileged” backgrounds though, if social factors are any sort of an effect at least half of them should have been white.
In England and Wales approx. 13% of the population are of a BAME background yet 35% of ICU beds are/were occupied with people from a BAME background.
Not a pattern seen in things like Flu or Pneumonia outbreaks.
You may expect to see the 35% figure when looking at just London, not the whole country.
Twice as many men dye of this compared to women, biology or sexism?
“So how are they supposed to avoid infection?”, they can’t, they are totally reliant on their Gov stopping it get to them.
And we all know how that is going.
Pugol-H
May 28th, 2020 - 07:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0”As for the reason(s) for the disproportional effect on minorities, already bleeding heart liberals and activists are crying, it’s evidence of institutional racism, underlying disadvantages, minorities live in poorer areas, more crowed etc”
You hear (low income) community leaders here use that line ALL the time.....in order to squeeze out more benefits....and it doesn't really surprise me that they would politicize it.....
Not saying it's nice, but looking at reality, one has to admit it is just the result of a combination of decades of govt omission / complacency, and a propensity for these communities to use the victimization card...as if they are being deliberately targeted (by govt) because of their colour, social condition etc, and God knows what else..
In all sorts of stats here, you'll usually find that blacks / mulatos are in the most unfavourable positions....while it is a sad fact, it's useless just throwing the cold numbers around - one needs to look at 'why'.....but many liberals (and poor) prefer to ignore that angle, and if you insist on investigating/ divulging the causes, they complain and label you a racist. Many of them don't want to take responsibility for their own actions...or lack of them.
But considering (your above statement and) the way the bleeding hearts think, if they want to level the playing field for blacks (& the poor in general), there are issues just as serious, that need to be solved first (sanitation, better housing etc)....but most politicians aren't really interested in solving the problem, as long as they can use it to their advantage.
DT
Demographics (as overcrowding in poor areas) sure does have a lot to do with it, it's a social condition that will only be improved after the basic problems are faced /erradicated. Unfortunately for them, the virus has become 'one more' big problem.
Pugol
May 28th, 2020 - 10:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Doreen Lawrence when interviewed about heading the Labour party inquiry into the issue stated it as a reason”
Did she? I can't find a quote anywhere. If racism was involved it would be indirectly, as affecting jobs, education and housing. But in some cases it's the reverse, it's well known immigrants from India encourage their kids to go into medicine because it's a respected and well paid profession.
Re the stats you'd need to see it broken down by area. It's possible there's a biological component but you'd need to disentangle the obvious social ones first. But if the difference was due to biology you'd expect the disease to be spreading much more rapidly in their countries of origin. As for men vs women, more men smoke, more have pre-existing conditions like heart disease, but it's well known men have weaker immune systems than women so it's not entirely surprising they are more likely to die.
JB
In the UK these issues are likely to resolve themselves to some extent; immigrants may not be well educated or speak the language so tend to end up clustering in certain cities and working low paid jobs, but their children don't necessarily have those problems. In Brazil I'd say poverty is more entrenched with poor education and lack of opportunities reducing social mobility.
DT
May 28th, 2020 - 10:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“In Brazil I'd say poverty is more entrenched with poor education and lack of opportunities reducing social mobility”
Agree..
DT
May 28th, 2020 - 11:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I’m pretty sure it was Sky News, I tried to find it but couldn’t.
It was in the context of social conditions and other medical conditions more prevalent in the BAME community, which reflects the wider discrimination in society in things like housing and jobs.
As I said this was all before the enquiry had even begun to enquire.
Death are now being recorded with ethnic origin, which will give more data. As I said in London you would expect to see that figure, across the country no. Or we would see the same with Flu every year.
As for the countries of origin I don’t think it is yet in the West Indies and we shall see about Africa, India and Pakistan in the coming weeks.
As well as S. America.
Interesting conversation to follow. One problem is accurate statistics with a full data profile analysis. Age, gender, ethnic, etc...
May 29th, 2020 - 01:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0I do not trust my Latin American statistical reporting from experience.
I've read a lot of conflicting information about hydroxychloroquine which really is confusing.
A lot of questions besides socio-economic and other health issues — such as hypertension, obesity, etc... all need to be studied. One personal interest is blood type as I've read A and B groups the most succeptable. (my own is A rh negative)
But that makes no sense as most African Americans and Latin Americans are not of that blood group...
...and I would have no problem with a vaccine, but it's unrealistic to expect a viable solution before next year...
The problem is we can't economically sustain the shutdown in Latin America.
UK Census data is pretty reliable, so we already know some of the possible factors are real, just not how they might affect the spread of the virus. One factor that ought to go the other way though, is that the percentage of white people is higher in older age groups. That makes the death rates even more surprising.
May 29th, 2020 - 09:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Pugol, the countrywide stats must be pretty dominated by London, since most infections are there. Has anyone published stats broken down by region?
Yeah, we should see more in the coming months but it'll be complicated by varying levels of medical care in different countries.
If Ms Lawrence did say that none of the papers seem to have repeated it.
Chicureo, interesting about the blood groups. I'm type O so should be safer if it's true.
This is all I could find.
May 30th, 2020 - 02:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52219070
As I say, I believe they are now recording ethnicity data.
They did take age and location into account in that article, so it's a real effect. But where the chief medical officer says, “it is absolutely critical that we find out which groups are most at risk”, it makes me wonder what they can do about it. Wouldn't giving different advice or even lockdown rules to people based on race be considered racist? Should they exempt doctors or nurses of one race from treating Covid patients if they'd more vulnerable, or give them better PPE than others?
May 31st, 2020 - 11:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0I have had this debate with some of the Jamaicans I work with, yes Ledge who is same age as me is at more risk than me, however Taffi who is less than half my age is at less.
May 31st, 2020 - 02:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As a man I’m twice the risk of a woman, so Ledg’s Missus who is Jamaican younger than me and female is also at less risk than me.
How far do you go with this, where do you draw the line.
I suggested that given the “Scientific Data” perhaps women should go back to work first, men to follow when things are better.
Everyone without a wife in the room agreed with me.
Realistically any group identified as at higher risk has to take more precautions, irrespective of why they are at higher risk, or who they are.
I guess that as they learn more about who is at more risk and then why, we will get a more targeted approach.
DT
May 31st, 2020 - 06:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Wouldn't giving different advice or even lockdown rules to people based on race be considered racist?”
Relevant question of yours.....it could be....by someone, or a group whose only aim is to look for 'hair on eggs'....only an idiot would actually raise such an issue, and not accept the fact that it's not about race, but protecting lives.
“Should they exempt doctors or nurses of one race from treating Covid patients if they'd more vulnerable, or give them better PPE than others?”
That would be descrimination.....considers some lives more valuable than others....If they are in fact more vulnerable, then they should be asked to stay at home, for their own sake, as recommended for elderly people.
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