Manaus can’t breath: Amazonas state capital residents die of Covid-19 in crowded hospitals without oxygen

Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, in the Amazon region, was one of the first cities in Brazil to see its health system collapse with the pandemic. Months after that episode, the city is going through the same predictable tragedy, with an outburst of Covid-19 cases and the lack of oxygen canisters in its crowded hospitals since January 14th. Patients are dying asphyxiated, as reported by health professionals, and over 200 people were transferred to other states.

A story by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo showed that general Eduardo Pazuello, minister of Health, was warned about the oxygen shortage in Manaus by members of the state government, by the company that produces oxygen and even by his sister-in-law who had a family member “without oxygen to live through the day”. Even with four days of notice, he said “he couldn’t do anything”. A few days before the collapse, the minister sent a task-force of doctors to promote “precocious treatment” with chloroquine and other unproven medicines.

The appearance of a new strain of the virus is one of the culprits, experts say, but this chaotic scenario is preceded by neglect by the federal administration. Jesem Orellana, a researcher at Fiocruz-Amazônia, said in an interview to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo that the rejection, by government officials, to do a lockdown, suggested by experts since September, is to blame. The governor, Wilson Lima, supported by president Jair Bolsonaro, fought against more restrictive measures. Orellana also blamed “bad science” after a study said that Manaus had achieved “herd immunity”. “This was debated at restaurant tables and between politicians. Now we know better. The population relaxed and now we know how it ended”.

The Manaus situation shocked the country and the civil society mobilized efforts to aid the hospitals and send oxygen to the state. The president, however, sustained his position and said “he did what he could”, while reinforcing his promotion of ineffective and unproven medicines against Covid-19.