Field hospitals are preventing a healthcare collapse in Brazil

In at least five Brazilian states — Amazonas, Ceará, Pará, Pernambuco, and Rio de Janeiro — over 85 percent of intensive care units are currently filled. In Greater São Paulo — home to nearly one-third of the country’s cases — the occupation rate reached 89 percent, with at least 12 cities running out of intensive care units altogether. The city of Rio de Janeiro reportedly had only three vacant ICU beds as of Monday morning.

Meanwhile, the federal government promised to expand the capacity of the national healthcare system but has delivered only 17.5 percent of the 2,000 new intensive care units it had originally pledged.

With the healthcare system collapsing nationwide, local governments have taken it upon themselves to organize their Covid-19 responses, with around 40 field hospitals in at least ten states being set up to accommodate the overflow of state and municipal health systems. At least 4,000 temporary hospital beds have been installed throughout the country, a number that is expected to double within the next two months.

Despite being a quick response to a rapidly-evolving problem, field...