Coronavirus

As expected, Covid-19 cases in Santa Catarina jump after early reopening

santa catarina

On April 13, Santa Catarina Governor Carlos Moisés announced the reopening of his state’s economy. A week later, retail stores reopened and malls were allowed to host customers, with hundreds of people flocking to commercial centers. Now, the state has 3,082 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 63 deaths — tripling its figures in three weeks. 

The Covid-19 infection curve began to spike on April 28 — days after the decision to reopen the state was enforced. Mr. Moisés is an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro — who has consistently downplayed Covid-19 — and supported a statewide reopening after some municipalities tried to open before being blocked by the courts.

Last week, the Health Ministry warned about the risk of Santa Catarina becoming Brazil’s new Covid-19 epicenter. Before that, The Brazilian Report warned about how the state could turn itself into the country’s disaster case study. Some readers called us alarmists. Unfortunately, they were wrong.