The death rate linked to COVID-19 is “significantly” higher than the average in municipalities which voted overwhelmingly for far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during the last presidential election, the authors of a report revealed on Thursday. study.
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Researchers compared the results of the 2018 election with death rates in municipalities in the state of Minas Gerais (southeast), and found that the coronavirus wreaked more havoc in those where President Bolsonaro got the most votes.
The study, which analyzed data from January 21 to November 10, 2021, found that the infection rate was 30% higher in municipalities where Jair Bolsonaro was chosen by the majority of voters in the second round of voting, at 7,600 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The finding of the study, conducted by the Society of Infectiology of Minas Gerais and the Association of Epidemiology and Infection Control of the same Brazilian state, is even more edifying for the mortality rate, 60% higher than in the municipalities which had not voted in the majority for Mr. Bolsonaro, at 212 per 100,000.
“Bolsonaro has denied the seriousness of COVID-19, promoted treatments that have never been proven effective, opposed social distancing, mask-wearing, confinement and other protective measures. protection,” recalled Carlos Starling, co-author of the study.
According to him, the positions taken by the head of state “probably resulted in higher infection and mortality rates among his supporters,” he added in a press release.
COVID-19 has killed more than 660,000 people in Brazil, the second most bereaved country by the pandemic in absolute numbers after the United States.
The weekly average of deaths has however fallen sharply in recent weeks, thanks in particular to the fact that 75% of the population now has a complete vaccination schedule, despite numerous anti-vaccine comments from President Bolsonaro.
The study, which will be published by the end of the month, will be presented by Carlos Starling and bioinformatics expert Braulio Couto at the European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, which takes place April 23-26 in Lisbon. , in Portugal.
It echoes another study published in March in the journal The Lancet, with similar conclusions.
Jair Bolsonaro, who will seek re-election in October, has been heavily criticized for downplaying COVID-19, which he called a “flu”.
A Senate commission of inquiry recommended in October his indictment, in particular for “crimes against humanity”, for having “deliberately exposed Brazilians to mass contamination”.
The government did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment on the results of the study.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com