RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In Brazil’s Center West, the state of Mato Grosso is experiencing its worst situation since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in July and August 2020. According to the Health Secretariat, hospitals are on the verge of collapse.
The waiting line at the Pantanal Arena, operating as a patient screening center in state capital Cuiabá, is miles long. Some 900 tickets are handed out daily. Saleswoman Idelma de Fátima Gonçalves arrived at 4 AM trying to be seen.
“We are fragile, weak. So these are difficult times here. I’m feeling shortness of breath, coughing, nausea,” she said.
The health facilities are also crowded. “Polyclinics are crowded. All mixed up, Covid with trauma. I came early with my father and so far nothing,” says a woman on a cell phone recording.
Nurse Ana Carolina Haddad M. Camargo recorded a video describing the chaos.
“The facility is crowded. They keep coming in each minute, respiratory symptoms, and people crying and crying. I have just seen a patient, she is my age. The mother passed away by Covid, the husband is in the ICU also with Covid, the daughter is at home sick and today she came here because she is also very poorly”, she said.
Mato Grosso has recorded a rolling average of over 1,100 new daily cases. Outside the capital, qualified hospitals are crowded and the few remaining places are in the metropolitan region. The state has cancelled the return of school classes, scheduled for February, and deferred elective surgeries. But, according to the Health Secretariat, the collapse is now inevitable.
“The next few days will be dramatic because there is no technical possibility of increasing ICU beds quickly because it requires physical structure, equipment, and specialized staff that is lacking throughout Brazil. If we could reach a high level of social isolation, everyone wearing masks, cleaning their hands, this would not have happened”, says Gilberto Figueiredo, Health Secretary of Mato Grosso.
Covid-19 has already killed over 4,700 people in Mato Grosso. Teacher Elaine Moura lost her father and is experiencing a new drama in her family.
“It’s very difficult to get the last image I have of my father out of my mind, which is in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask. And now I’m experiencing the same situation again with the father of my children. And the last image we have is of him in the hospital again with an oxygen mask, fighting for his life,” she said.