Addicted to Covid-19

Covid started as a virus, it has now morphed into an addiction.  We chat Covid, we Zoom Covid, we Skype Covid, we email Covid and we WhatsApp Covid.  My addiction is nerve-racking: as soon as I get out of bed, I grab my cell phone to check the latest coronavirus developments.  Among my immediate concerns are the spread of the virus, the number of deaths, the expansion of new hotspots, the evolution of the R factor in Europe, the hottest academic finding on the virus behavior, Dr. Fauci’s latest warnings, the progression of the hydroxychloroquine hysteria and the coverage of the face mask disgrace, etc.  Meanwhile, I desperately avoid to breath Covid, a death certificate in my tropical dystopia.  Brazil is the 6^th worst affected country by cases and fatalities, 260 000 and 18 000 respectively, still counting.

I also check the development of Brazil’s other virus, President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the most toxic Covid denier in the world.  The right-wing populist has been fittingly compared to a virus by the governor of the city of Sẩo Paulo.  For me he is buffoon-in-chief, a callous, thin skinned leader and spoiled brat who choose to jet-ski on the Brasilia lake the day Brazil hit the 10 000 coronavirus deaths.  No wonder that at the end of such stressful days, I feel feverish and short of breath, total paranoia and hypochondria.

My quarantine routine (62 days so far) always starts the same way.  After checking corona news on my cell phone, I pick up the O Globo newspaper left on my doorstep and I thoroughly spray it with alcohol before reading it at breakfast.  I keep buying the newspaper knowing that many friends have switched to the online version.  It is delivered by the newsstand across the street; the woman who owns it needs all our financial support.  Am I taking an unnecessary risk of contamination ?

O Globo is both a life-line and a drug.  It is the most prominent printed newspaper in Brazil.  In Rio, it has zero competitors.  All my friends read O Globo and we comment on its articles and op-eds.  O Globo supports moderately liberal opinions, and often reprints articles published in the New York Times.  

At the end of the two terms of President Lula and during the six years of his successor Dilma Rousseff, the paper was solidly critical of the leftish government and exposed the shenanigans of the governing Worker party (PT).  The Car Wash corruption investigation re-energized the paper.  It was somewhat supportive of candidate Bolsonaro as he represented the best option to oust the corrupt PT.  Soon after the election of Bolsonaro, the paper had a change of heart and became a relentless critic of the president’s populist bluster and of the erratic policies of his government.

World over, except for some conservative and right-wing media which downplay the pandemic, journalists advocate lives over livelihood, saving lives rather than the economy.  Tabloids have pumped up the volume and their sensationalist coverage of the pandemic is probably improving their bottom line.  O Globo is using the devastating coronavirus statistics to attack Bolsonaro’s negationist position, his inadequate handling of the health crisis, and his overall incompetent leadership. 

It does that by humanizing the pandemic and attracting the sympathy of its readers.  By publishing the story and pictures of victims, the journalists give the statistics a human face.  The victims are not randomly selected.  Preference goes to hard-working young men and women such as nurses and frontline doctors, students with a bright future, and deserving mothers over senior citizens, the age class which is the virus’ prime victims.  With an abundance of shocking pictures of grave diggers, the paper documents the exponential expansion of the pandemic in the government’s neglected regions.

By doing so, O Globo endeavors to discredit Bolsonaro’s pet coronavirus strategy: vertical isolation and herd immunization.  A rather delusory scheme in a country where 30% of the population is either over 65 years old or has pre-existing conditions.

O Globo also takes the role of “fake news” fighter.  Brazilians are addicted to social media where fake news proliferates.  The newspaper particularly targets fake news launched by pro-Bolsonaro lobbies.  One of his sons is under investigation for allegedly being the ring leader of a criminal fake news racket. 

The rest of the morning is spent receiving and sharing coronavirus information.  We all know that the full tally of caseloads and fatalities is unknown; it is certainly much higher than the government’s provided data.  We know because many acquaintances have caught the virus with different levels of severity and are under the radar.  Four staff in our building fell ill, making social distancing a requirement.  The virus is roving and ready to catch its victim in every nook and cranny of our building, and riding the elevator is like running the gauntlet.

                                                              Coronavirus warrior ready to ride the elevator.

In order to jettison the addiction and the resulting stress, I decided to pay a visit to my doctor to get some medical comforting.  I left at peace with three prescriptions:  One is for medicines in case I catch the virus; Hydroxychloroquine was an option but I declined. The other two are particularly useful: one is for the Covid swab and the other for the serologic test.  Both will be useful if I am able to travel to Europe this summer.  In this dystopia, I dream of being asymptomatic and immunized!