Brasília Relaxes Quarantine as Ceilândia Neighborhood Multiplies Covid-19 Deaths

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The peak of the coronavirus pandemic is not expected to reach the nation’s capital until mid-July. Before that, however, the Ibaneis Rocha government has already started an open-and-shut stage designed to interfere with the spread of the disease.

Perhaps the most telling example of this policy is Ceilândia, located some 30 kilometers from the Three Powers Square, the heart of the Brazilian capital’s political power. It is the most populous satellite city in Brasília, with almost 500,000 inhabitants, one in every five residents in the Federal District.

After the Ceilândia administrative region multiplied by 9.6 times the number of deaths from Covid-19 and by 24.5 times the number of infections in a month, the district government decided to again limit the opening of commerce, clubs, churches, and parks.

By the start of May, Ceilândia had recorded six deaths and 102 infections. By Friday afternoon, June 12th, there were 58 deaths and 2,501 infections. Throughout the Federal District, there were 20,684 cases and 275 deaths. The rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Ceilândia is 717, while that of Brazil stands at around 350.

Ceilândia was one of the first places visited by President Jair Bolsonaro in late March when he started his “coronatours”, a term that opponents chose to describe the presidential tours at a time when the guideline is for social isolation to prevent the spread of the virus. At the time, the mere presence of the President led to crowds. He took pictures with supporters and talked to street vendors.

“There was never any social distancing in Ceilândia, I never noticed much reduction in the flow of people on the streets. Supermarkets do not control the flow of people and several stores open, even when everything is banned,” reported biologist Flávio Rosas, a resident in the region.

On Wednesday, June 10th, photojournalist Cadu Gomes walked around the city. On that day, the governor’s decree that limited the operation of stores was still in effect. According to the reporter’s records, there were crowds of people outside bank branches and lottery houses, street vendors working freely, and children’s clothing stores operating with their doors ajar. Churches and most stores were closed.

The Federal District was the first of Brazil’s 27 federated units (26 are states) to decree quarantine in the first half of March. The government banned services that were not considered essential, which was virtually all of them. Schools, gyms, beauty salons, stores, malls, and other shopping centers, restaurants and bars (except for delivery), clubs, museums, cinemas, and theaters closed their doors without a clear estimate of when reopening would occur.

Criticized by Bolsonaro, Governor Ibaneis Rocha (MDB) has once again become a political ally. He took part in interviews at the Planalto Palace and sold himself as a potential role model for those who advocated the reopening of trade. In April, in an interview, he projected that the peak would occur by the start of May, but this was not the case. He also said that then Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta had been fired too late.

For the past two weeks, the governor has been adopting positions that please the Planalto Palace. On May 27th, he authorized the reopening of shopping malls and all businesses, contrary to some of the health experts who recommended keeping trade partially closed until the end of July. In the meantime, Governor Ibaneis will assess the situation on a case-by-case basis.

The decree that once again limited activities in Ceilândia, and two other administrative regions (Sol Nascente and Estrutural), has not been extended and there is no estimate for it to, for the time being. The Government hopes to be able to rely on the population’s “common sense” by installing billboards around the city urging residents to stay home and reporting how many deaths were recorded in each region. However, the streets are still busy.

In the Federal District’s central area, known as the ‘Plano Piloto’, where some 220,000 people live and the contamination rates stand at 718.2 per group of 100,000 inhabitants, the governor has decided to reopen two areas for recreation on Sundays and holidays, Eixão do Lazer and W3 Sul do Lazer. These are long multi-lane avenues that are closed to vehicles on these dates, when the inhabitants can walk, jog, ride bikes and practice sports, or gather to attend musical events.

Source: El País