Rush hour is back with a vengeance in Mexico City, diners have returned to restaurants in Bogota and joggers have flocked to Buenos Aires’ parks. In Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, crowds have packed bars, beaches and even the sprawling fake lawn beneath Alphabet Inc’s regional headquarters.
In Latin America’s big cities, as in other places around the globe, it almost feels like COVID-19 never happened, but it is especially noteworthy because the region, with 8 percent of the world’s population, accounts for one-third of infections and fatalities. Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina are all in the top 10 worst-hit countries in the world.
So there is greater thirst and greater risk for a return to “normality” in a region not known for either good government or public compliance.
Health officials say that quarantines are the best way to stop the virus, but are no longer viable over the long term, and so societies must do their best to manage the illness.
Even as the virus spreads further in Argentina and Brazil, data show the fierce attempt to move past the COVID-19 pandemic’s restrictions.
Mexico City traffic, which in mid-April fell to about 14 percent of what is normal, is up to 69 percent of a March 2 baseline.
In Sao Paulo, the region’s second-largest city, rush hours are returning. Before the pandemic, there were 50 such hours per week. In April, that number plunged to 11.
It is now about 30, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.
In and around Santiago, where almost 40 percent of Chile’s population live, mobility trackers show that movement is just 13 percent below pre-quarantine levels, a report from Universidad del Desarrollo said.
Google data show mobility in restaurants, shopping centers and movie theaters in Rio de Janeiro is down 4 percent since January. In Hong Kong, the drop is 14 percent.
When it comes to workplace mobility, numbers are still down 42 percent in Bogota and Mexico City, similar to New York City and not far from London.
Helicopters and planes that were absent from the skies are also back: Airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA is expanding its daily fights to 300 this month — or about half of the pre-pandemic routes — from 50 in late March.
The need to “move on” might be partly because it is a region that has lived through so much — defaults, political turmoil, military coups and hyperinflation. The arrival of the pandemic was, in some sense, just one more problem.
In the past month alone, Argentina increased its currency controls after another debt restructuring, violent protests broke out in Colombia over police brutality and Peru’s president faced impeachment proceedings.
Moreover, enforcement of rules is often lax — in Sao Paulo masks are mandatory, although there is little consequence for being out without one. The high percentage of people living in poverty and limited government aid also mean that many do not have a choice not to work.
“Latin Americans are very individualist, very different from what you see in Asia, where you have a strong collective sense,” said Paulo Feldmann, an economics professor at the University of Sao Paulo. “You also have weak links with authorities, which only worsens when you get leaders giving diverging comments, as you had in the pandemic.”
Movement remains more restricted in Buenos Aires, which is still at least 40 percent below average in parks, workplaces and retail and recreation spaces.
The effect of the virus on the region has been harsh almost no matter what the official policy was. Some countries — for example, Peru — locked down early and with great force, yet were still hit hard.
Argentina and Chile were also aggressive in their lockdowns, but ended up seeing cases increase anyway as residents broke quarantine to look for work and economies eventually started reopening. Cases in Buenos Aires continued to rise even as the government backed away from a reopening and returned to strict measures that only allowed essential services to open. Infections kept growing in the city’s metro area and into the rest of the country.
In other parts of the region, lockdowns faced backlashes from the start. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador argued against social distancing, saying that the economic fallout in the impoverished nations would be far worse than the health toll. Bolsonaro, who got sick himself, often dismissed the virus and encouraged people to work and mingle.
Both countries suffered terribly. Brazil has reported more than 4.5 million cases and more than 136,000 deaths, and Mexico is in second with more than 73,000 deaths, but not by total infections.
The nation’s government has resisted wide-scale testing, with Mexican Deputy Minister of Health Hugo Lopez-Gatell saying in late May that it would be a waste of time and resources.
Although numbers remain high, the pace of infections has slowed across most of the region. After a month of more than 300,000 new cases a week, Brazil saw its numbers fall to 265,000, then to below 200,000. Weekly deaths have declined to 5,000, the lowest since June.
Colombia reported 190 deaths on Sept. 13, falling below the 200 mark for the first time since July 20.
All told, the region of more than 600 million people has reported 8.5 million cases and nearly 320,000 deaths.
In the first few days of this month, Oxford Economics’s Latin America Recovery Tracker showed its largest gain since early April.
Brazil’s tracker is just 3.9 percent below pre-pandemic levels, followed by Mexico at minus-16.4 percent, Colombia at minus-20.8 percent and Chile at minus-29 percent. Peru and Argentina are the laggards, still more than 30 percent below.
Health officials remain worried.
“Of course it’s understandable that we’re gradually reopening, but we have to be careful, and between packed beaches and stores, that’s not what we are seeing,” said Simone Nouer, coordinator of the infectious disease graduate course at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
Joao Paulo Souza, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo’s medical school, added that the risk is far from over.
“When we face a classic epidemic, we see a quick rise, plateau and then — when you get to herd immunity — a quick decline, but in our case, we have a long plateau without herd immunity, which means a persistent crisis,” he said.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.