SAO PAULO (AP) – The night before New Year’s Eve in Rio de Janeiro, thousands of partygoers dressed in swimsuits crowded the iconic Ipanema Beach for drinks by the sea. It was one of many outdoor parties that took place along the vast Brazilian coast since the heat of summer came in and as the number of COVID-19 deaths increased.
“It was so packed that you couldn’t step on the beach,” said a maintenance worker in a luxury apartment building on the street. “And it wasn’t just at night; the beach was also full of daylight. And no one wears a mask! ”He added, insisting not to be named for his name out of concern, the owner of the building would punish him for talking to a journalist.
The explosion of celebrations came just before a pandemic milestone: Brazil surpassed 200,000 deaths on Thursday, up from 1,524 in the previous 24 hours to a total of 200,498 for the pandemic, according to data released by the health ministry. of Brazil. It is the second highest toll in the world, behind the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins University database.
Many Brazilians have been struggling against quarantine for months, going to bars or small meetings with friends, but massive outbreaks had been scarce since the pandemic began. The festivities kicked off after the start of the southern hemisphere summer on December 21st.
Although many countries imposed new restrictions to limit the spread of the virus in mid-December, the administration of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gave his blessing to have fun during the holidays in the sun. Tourism Minister Gilson Machado told radio station Jovem Pan that meetings of up to 300 people were perfectly acceptable. The decision to impose restrictions is the prerogative of local governments; some who did saw their rules ignored.
A prominent YouTuber organized a party near a river beach for hundreds of people in the state of Alagoas, in the northeast region of the country. Days later, local media reported that 47 people, including guests and employees without masks, hired COVID-19. At least two were admitted to intensive care units.
A five-day weekend rally drew 150 people to the property of football star Neymar outside Rio, though he denied any association with the VIP event.
Outside of Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro kicked off in 2021 jumping off a boat and swimming towards a crowd of masked sympathizers.
And police in the city of Bertioga, off the coast of Sao Paulo, used tear gas to disperse a celebration during the early hours of New Year’s Day.
“Right in front of the parties, the situation is getting worse. But this week or next, it will get even worse, “Domingos Alves, an associate professor of social medicine at the University of Sao Paulo, told The Associated Press this week.
Alves, who leads a team of researchers tracking COVID-19 data, warned that the daily confirmed cases from several states have already surpassed the numbers seen during Brazil’s peak in July.
Intensive care units in many cities are once again clashing with patients with COVID-19. The mayor of the state capital of the Amazon, Manaus, who a local study speculated could have achieved immunity from the herd after its brutal first wave, declared a 180-day state of emergency on Tuesday and suspended all permissions for events. State authorities banned all non-essential activities for 15 days in most of the city
The city of 2.2 million has recorded 3,550 deaths since the start of the pandemic and the number of COVID-19 burials has increased. Outside of a cemetery at least, the cars lined up full of people waiting to bury their loved ones.
Vanda Ortega, a volunteer nurse from the Manaus Community of Indigenous Nations, told the AP that the city had taken a practical approach to the virus, first during the November local elections with large rallies and long queues of voters.
“Then we spent the holidays, with a lot of secret parties,” said Ortega, who belongs to the Witoto ethnic group. “We live in an area where rich people have huts. They party every week. ”
Many mayors on the coast of Sao Paulo ignored the holiday restrictions imposed by their governor. In at least 12 cities, mayors kept shops, hotels and beaches open to tourists.
The images of traffic jams and crowded beaches, with many people unmasked, were so discordant that EU Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni expressed his disbelief on Twitter and said “I saw embarrassing images of Brazil” .
And Bolsonaro, who has constantly downplayed the risks of the virus despite taking a case himself, noted with his New Year’s bath that he would continue to ignore the protection measures observed in most countries.
“I submerged myself with a mask on so I wouldn’t catch COVID from the fish,” he joked a few days later in front of the presidential palace.
Even some Brazilians who consider themselves prudent drop their guards. Football fan Ricardo Santos, 46, says he covers his face every time he goes out, carries hand sanitizer in his bag and observes social distancing. But on Wednesday, he and a dozen other Palmeiras fans played a bar in downtown Sao Paulo to watch his team play.
“I spent New Year’s Eve with only two friends who live in the same building. I take precautions. But sometimes you also have to accept a small risk to preserve your mental health, ”said Santos.
Back on Ipanema Beach in Rio, 57-year-old Joao Batista Baria said he blamed authorities for failing to protect its poorest residents.
“Everyone talks about these parties on the beach, but it also gets crowded on the bus, on the subway,” Baria said as she cleaned the folding chairs rented by tourists and residents for the summer sun. “People come to the beach because they choose. I need to take the bus to go to work.