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Comment by rodolphoarruda | Hacker News Reader

Blaming Bolsonaro alone is like blaming the scarecrow for the problems in the farm. Brazil is a very complex society that suffered for 3 decades with systemic corruption, poor education and a very problematic public health system. Ask any low-middle class brazilian -- me -- what he thinks about public ICUs and the answer will be: "There is no such thing". Brazil is not a developed country doing bad in covid because of its president, rather, it is a poor developing country struggling to survive covid in spite of any president.

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Public opinion is that US handled pandemic bad but US is the most developed country in the world. There is no real public health system in US because health system is largely based on robust private health care sector.

It seems like China handled the best this pandemic so we all should ask them how they did it. We should send our health experts to China so they can learn something.

This is an honest question: by what standard is the US "the most developed country in the world"? The US indeed number one in several categories, but how do you define "development" such that the US is on top?

Ever heard of GDP?

Using GDP as your metric would put China as the 2nd most developed country in the world.

What is your metric? Tell me about it.

HDI is widely regarded as the best metric for nation development.

So Norway is the most developed country in the world? http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/latest-human-development-inde...

I doubt it.

Don't ask me. DYOR.

I did my research and all information points me to US being the most developed country in the world.

For example this information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States

Clicking on "developed country" in your link takes you to [1] which doesn't seem to backup your claims in any of the listed metrics.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country

So you are arguing with me that US is not the most developed country in the world or that it is not developed at all?

"Most commonly, the criteria for evaluating the degree of economic development are gross domestic product (GDP)."

US has the most highest GDP in the world but of course there are other 99 economic metrics and criteria where US is not first but looking at productivity and innovation they are number 1.

"By 1890 the United States had overtaken the British Empire as the world's most productive economy." From my link.

I don't think there is much room for the public opinion or the press to really inform the rest of the world about what's going on in China. We as outsiders make our opinion out of sheer inference when talking about China and the pandemic.

You're not seeing the big picture. Our national healthcare system is completely ready to face a pandemic like that. Of course it is poorly funded nowadays, but we've vaccinated 80 million people in 3 months in the past. We have professionals, we have the infrastructure, we just needed strong measures and a federal plan to deal with COVID-19. The reason that did not happen was because of Bolsonaro. He chose to not only ignore the problem, but encourage people to live their lives normally. He didn't buy the Pfizer vaccines when we needed to. Hell, he went on television to say Covid-19 was just a "little flu". He fired the health minister 3 times IN A PANDEMIC. He's the one to blame for this situation.

All my family members who relied on the public health system are now gone. The only one survivor is my rich uncle -- no kidding -- who could afford Sírio Libanês ICU for 40 days.

I don't think the middle class can afford that. The majority of the 300k dead were treated in the public system.

> Our national healthcare system is completely ready to face a pandemic like that

I lost a younger brother to that national healthcare system 10 years ago. Maybe this might be the case for the more developed regions (like the south & southeast), go to the north/northeast and you'll see the abyss.

> Ask any low-middle class brazilian -- me -- what he thinks about public ICUs and the answer will be: "There is no such thing".

This is simply not true. I spent 2019's vacation in Florianopolis where it is very common for people to have relatives in the US. I asked some of them "What do you do when you get sick?" and unanimous answer was: "We come back to brazil". Brazil's public health has been continually improving since early 2000's and had a world-class respected vaccination program, generic medicines and free treatment for HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Bolsonaro's encouraging crowding, ineffective medication, downplaying the disease, the pandemic and looking for vaccines too late (even discouraging it) combined with his supporters who argued that the pandemic was a fraud, are surely to blame for a part of such a high number of deaths.

I live in Brazil as a grown adult for 30 years. I can tell you that the public health system in Brazil, specially in regards to intensive care, is a public calamity. Not just now, but for the last 30 years.

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