Brazil's Bolsonaro accepts little blame for his country's COVID-19 disaster, but he wears a face mask

(Image credit: Andressa Anholete/Getty Images)

published 26 May 2020

Brazil now has the world's second-largest outbreak of COVID-19, with 375,000 confirmed cases, putting it a distant No. 2 to the U.S. and its 1.66 million cases. "President Jair Bolsonaro is deflecting all responsibility for the coronavirus crisis, casting blame on mayors, governors, an outgoing health minister, and the media," The Associated Press reports. With one notable exception, he "has avoided acknowledging the potential effects of his actions, particularly in undermining local leaders' stay-at-home recommendations."

The exception was in mid-April. "Reopening commerce is a risk I run because, if it (the virus) gets worse, then it lands in my lap," Bolsonaro said while introducing his third health minister of the pandemic, a general with no previous health experience. Less than two weeks later, as Brazil's death toll shot up, AP notes, Bolsonaro told reporters: "You're not going to put on my lap this count that isn't mine." Brazil now has nearly 23,500 COVID-19 deaths, though that number is almost certainly a significant undercount, thanks to insufficient testing and skepticism that the coronavirus is a real threat, especially among Bolsonaro supporters, as AP records in this video.

Brazil is "completely incapable of dealing with and responding to this crisis as this crisis should be responded to — with complete leadership, clear messages, political stability, and unity," says Miguel Lago, executive director of Brazil's Institute for Health Policy Studies. "That's not the case here. Basically, what we're seeing is a complete lack of seriousness and competence." For all his public attacks on local coronavirus mitigation measures, however, Bolsonaro often — though not always — wears a face mask in public.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.