Bolsonaro surveying hotel rooms for high-risk people

President Jair Bolsonaro has defended the so-called “vertical isolation” strategy against the coronavirus, which focuses on only confining high-risk clusters of the population. That is, those who are more likely to die or suffer severe damage from Covid-19: senior citizens, those with pre-existing conditions, or autoimmune deficiencies. And he is taking action to push this plan forward.

One such move is having the federal administration map out the availability of hotel beds in Rio de Janeiro. They would be used to house high-risk patients — such as elderly citizens living in poorly-urbanized areas — and health professionals. In the government’s mind, that would allow the rest of the population to go about their business as usual.

Our April 3 Daily Briefing brings an in-depth explanation of how poor communities are about to become a breeding ground to the coronavirus.

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