In op-ed published in the Miami Herald this past weekend, Dr. Felicia Knaul and Dr. Michael Touchton discussed their analysis of the current situation in Latin America in regard to the pandemic of COVID-19.

Two of the main researchers of UM’s Observatory, Knaul and Touchton explained that political leaders’ dismissal of the severity of the pandemic and limited public health-related campaigning for combating the disease added to the severity of the situation in countries like Brazil and Mexico. To them, coronavirus has become “a national public-health crisis, not a left-wing or right-wing crisis.”

COVID-19 does not ask its victims about political preference. Yet, one cannot tell that from Bolsonaro’s rhetoric or from mayors’ and governos’ policy responses.

Felicia Knaul and Michael Touchton

The researchers further point out that countries in the Latin American region with populist leaders, like Brazil, had time to prepare for the pandemic “but chose not to. Instead, Bolsonaro wasted valuable time and claimed that COVID-19 would ‘disappear’.”

Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article245658545.html

Latin America is a global hotspot for COVID-19. With only 8% of the world’s population, it has 43% of the average daily deaths (about 5.5 million).

During this live webinar on September 2nd, Dr. Rafael Lozano, director of Health Systems at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations (IHME) presented projections until December 2020 for Latin America alongside the newest data of mobility and public policy from the UM Observatory presented by Dr. Felicia Knaul, director of the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas at the University of Miami (UM). The two were joined by Dr. Michael Touchton, Dr. Julio Frenk, Dr. Rifat Atun, and Dr. Patricia Garcia in this webinar that was simultaneously translated into English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

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Brazil is now the global COVID-19 hotspot with over 1,000 deaths per day and more than 1 million cases overall. President Bolsonaro’s failure to respond to the pandemic places the burden on state and local governments.

During this live webinar on June 25th, world-renowned public health expert Dr. Cesar Victora shared new results from studies by Epicovid19, the first to assess the prevalence of coronavirus in Brazil. He was joined by Dr. Felicia Knaul and Dr. Michael Touchton from the University of Miami Observatory of COVID-19 in the Americas, who summarized public policy responses by Brazilian states. He was joined by Dr. Felicia Knaul and Dr. Michael Touchton from the University of Miami Observatory of COVID-19 in the Americas, who summarized public policy responses by Brazilian states.

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The Coronavirus is killing many more young people in the developing world [Spanish; “El coronavirus está matando a muchos más jóvenes en los países en vías de desarrollo”]

COVID-19 is currently making its move towards the developing world, and while doing so, is changing the profile of victims of the disease. Opposite to what was seen in wealthier countries, the disease is killing more young people than older populations in the poorer countries, resulting in the need to understand the disease from a new perspective. In Brazil, people under 50 years of age account for 15% of deaths, which is more than 10 times greater than in Italy or Spain. In Mexico, about 1/4 of deaths are of people between 25 and 49 years old. In India, nearly half of deaths were of people younger than 60 years this month.

Colombia’s Medellin Emerges as Surprise COVID-19 Pioneer [English]

In Medellín, Colombia, only four deaths have been confirmed as caused by COVID-19, a remarkable number for a city with 2.5 million residents. This low number is the result of early preparation by government officials, as well as the use of an app early on to track data on the virus for containment. Although there was worry for privacy issues with the app, 1.3 million families voluntarily signed up for the app from the city and its surrounding areas, contributing to its efficacy in helping fight the local spread of the disease.

The US remove emergency approval for use of chloroquine [Portuguese; “EUA retiram aprovação de emergência para o uso de cloroquina“]

The FDA revoked its prior emergency authorization for the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, citing lack of proof of its benefits and efficiency for the treatment of COVID-19. In Brazil, the medications are still recommended by the Health Ministry, and its use is publicly supported by President Bolsonaro, which caused tension that led to the exit of the last Health Minister, Nelson Taich. The decision by the FDA comes two weeks after the US sent Brazil a donation of two million doses of hydrochloroquine for use in combating COVID-19.

Running a red light: Mexico’s reopening [English]

Mexico has begun its transition into reopening the country, but the move might be too soon considering the current numbers of COVID-19 in the country. As the article states it best, “Mexico looks set to join India and others in applying a peculiar pandemic policy principle: if you can’t subdue the virus, subdue your quarantine instead.”

The pandemic threatens to leave 16 million Latin American in extreme poverty [Spanish; “La pandemia amenaza con dejar a otros 16 millones de latinoamericanos en la pobreza extremas”]

FAO and Cepal are warning of the potential scenario in the Caribbean and Latin America as COVID-19 advances in the areas. With the effect of the sanitary crises, a growing unemployment rate, limited access to fresh food, and rising prices in markets, millions are opting for cheaper food with lower nutritional values. The agencies suggest that governments work to give citizens a financial aid of about $47 dollars per person to guarantee households have enough to pay for food.

The pandemic is causing growing rejection towards globalization [Portuguese; “Pandemia faz acelerar rejeição à globalização”]

The IMF projects a 11% decrease in the global commerce market this year, without any outlook for recuperation in 2021. In an even more pessimistic projection, the WTO projects a 13% fall. The first pointer towards the global economic crisis was the spread of COVID-19 in China, considered a “global factory,” including Wuhan, the city identified with the initial spread of the virus. Wuhan is the headquarters for the Chinese production of automobiles and steel and houses multiple multinational businesses. Although it is early to make precise predictions, experts agree that the impact of the pandemic on the global market will be significant.

Starting today, the Observatory will dedicate this news section of the site to posting bi-weekly summaries of news stories in order to create a one-stop access to the latest information on the current global epidemic. These roundups will be posted every Tuesday and Friday, and will include articles from all kinds of sources as curated by the Observatory. The links shared here will be in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and the languages of these articles will be specified in brackets after the links.

The “Flatten the Curve” Chart Was Ugly and Not Scientifically Rigorous. Why Did It Work So Well? [English]

Arguing towards the visualization of data, charts and graphs are more important than ever in aiding in the understanding of local and global situations, such as that of the current pandemic. The text describes how “pathogens can’t be seen by the naked eye,” reinforcing the idea that a cultural community of visual information is crucial to explaining, understanding, and combating a global crisis.

It’s Always Better to be Ready for the Worst
[Spanish; “Siempre es mejor estar preparado para lo peor”]

Many scholars and academic researchers are working towards developing models of prediction of patterns of COVID-19 in order to aid in informing and prevention of the disease. As the article describes, the pandemic has turned our society into a culture of numbers, and beyond being important for many public policy comprehensions, it also aids hospitals in understanding how to better prepare, plan, and dedicate resources appropriately.

Lockdown and school closures in Europe may have prevented 3.1m deaths [English]

Research conducted by the Imperial College London shows that the European measures of lockdown and closures were successful in preventing millions of deaths in countries like Spain, Italy, the UK, Germany, and Belgium.

Short-term forecasts of COVID-19 deaths in multiple countries [English]

Research done in a partnership between the Centre for Global Infections Disease Analysis, Imperial College London, and the University of Sussex show projections for countries in all continents for expected total deaths caused by COVID-19. Brazil, for example, is expected to have over 7000 deaths in the upcoming week, a difference of more than 100 cases than reported this week. Predictions of deaths in Mexico are also of increased numbers, from around 4000 deaths this week to about 5500 deaths next week. In Latin America, Colombia, Bolivia, Panama, Argentina, and Peru are also expected to increase in number of deaths caused by COVID-19, but the rise is not expected to be as significant as Brazil and Mexico.

App by Google Indicates Minimum Distance to Reduce Risk of Contamination by the Coronavirus [Portuguese; “App do Google indica distância mínima para reduzir risco de contágio pelo coronavírus”]

Sodar, an app developed by Google, works to aid in putting social distance in action. The user opens the app (which does not need to be downloaded and can be accessed directly through Google Chrome), points their phone to the floor, and receives an automatic measure of his radius towards the next person. This app can be useful in current global efforts of reopening public places such as shopping malls, schools, parks, beaches, businesses, and more.

Did COVID-19 Arrive on your Street? Interactive Map Allows Research in São Paulo [Portuguese; “Covid-19 chegou à sua rua? Mapa interativo permite pesquisa em São Paulo”]

Researchers from a university in São Paulo, Brazil, developed an interactive map that allows monitoring of cases and deaths by COVID-19 in communities, villas, and streets. The main finding from the project debunked a popular belief by showing that favelas, or the Brazilian slums, do not necessarily hold the greatest concentration of cases or deaths.

As coronavirus deaths in Brazil continue to climb, researchers and university leadership discussed the current COVID-19 containment situation in the country and the region and their findings on the impact of delayed and poorly planned responses and policies during a press conference on Tuesday, June 2, 2020.

Combined with previously released state-level data on Mexico and national-level for the rest of Latin America, these findings provide an important instrument to inform public policy and decision-making in the region. Participants included University of Miami President Julio Frenk, former minister of health of Mexico; Felicia Marie Knaul, director of the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Miller School of Medicine; Michael Touchton, assistant professor of political science at the University of Miami and the global health associate faculty lead for the Institute; and Professor Cesar Victora, a world-renowned Brazilian epidemiologist and lead of the International Center for Equity in Health at Universidade Federal de Pelotas.