Brazil lagging behind in pandemic, gripped by fear – study

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The vast majority of Brazilians (90%) say they are still “thinking as if they were in the pandemic,” compared to 65% of Germans, 56% of Americans, and 35% of Chinese.

Moreover, 78% of Brazilians are worried about another pandemic on its way, worse than Covid-19.

This reaction to the pandemic was the target of global communications agency Edelman’s study in May for a special report it called World in Trauma. It interviewed 16,800 people from 14 countries (those mentioned above, plus South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Canada, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, France, India, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom).

“This particular aspect, of Brazil in the lead of this ‘I’m still thinking as if I were in the pandemic’, reinforces what we see in practice: the disparity between a world that is starting to come back to life and a Brazil immersed in crisis, with this amount of people dying,” says Ana Julião, general manager of Edelman Brazil.

“It confirms that we belong to a group of countries that is lagging behind, in all dimensions,” she adds.

Even Brazilians who have been administered the two vaccine doses are reluctant to go back to their routine, away from home: only 10% say they feel safe to allow their children to return to school; 11% say they fell safe in using public transportation; and 31%, to go back to the workplace.

In the same direction, only 17% of Brazilians interviewed answered that they feel safe to have meals indoors outside the home, such as restaurants; 21%, to stay in hotels; and 24%, to resume air travel.

“The issue of new strains, India, is increasing fear,” says Ana Julião. “What has been observed in our surveys over the months since the pandemic started is a rise in fear. The more afraid you are now, the less you trust the future.”

The research surveyed Brazilians’ expectations of the pandemic’s side effects, reaching a scenario it described as a “double crisis of mental health and unemployment.”

For 69%, the worsening of mental health problems will be among the worst effects of the pandemic in the country. For 68%, it will be families having to deal with homelessness and financial ruin. For 62%, it will be young people facing educational failure. For 57%, the loss of jobs that will never be recovered.

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