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.

Follow us on social media for other daily updates: