Adding Brazil Data

Mister Sum had heard something weird. Bolsonaro (the president of Brazil) is said to have stopped further publication of coronavirus statistics. Because they would give a distorted picture. For those who have observed the efforts of the funeral industry on the spot through the media, this view does not seem plausible. Anyway, below in Fig.1 the numbers up to week 23.

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Fig. 1 Brazil Data

The story that figure 1 tells corresponds with what to expect from a policy as Bolsonaro’s. The number of infections is growing unrestrained. That is, it continues to grow exponentially. Everywhere, cumulative and incremental. Nowhere to find a deflection. Except in the last 2 weeks of the new deaths. That deflection is not in line with what the numbers of infections prepare for. It is uncertain whether it represents reality. Perhaps it are Bolsonarese adjustments to publication. Mister Sum suspects the latter. We’ll see later. When the ruling by the Brazilian Supreme Court that orders the publication to resume has been effectuated.

What the data for Brazil mainly shows is that policy matters. In the period when “black lives matter” is clearly a growing movement, it can be established that if lives matter, that becomes visible only through policies that do not outlaw them.