The only surprise about Jair Bolsonaro's diagnosis for COVID-19 was that it took him so long to test positive. For months, the Brazilian president flouted health precautions, urging his compatriots to get back to work instead. Despite the country's skyrocketing caseload of infections and fatalities, Bolsonaro shunned masks, joined public rallies of his supporters, denied evidence that the virus poses a threat, and championed unproven remedies on live television. Instead of urging citizens to take care or expressing his sympathy about the outrageous death toll, he spewed more misinformation about healthy people being safe from the virus.
The pandemic populist shows little sign of changing course. To the contrary, the pandemic provides a welcome distraction from accumulated criminal investigations that threaten his presidency.
Although the president could win some sympathy from his base for contracting the virus and surviving, it could mark the beginning of the end of the most chaotic administration in Brazil's history. His government's response to the pandemic has been marked by incompetence, recklessness and cruelty, and there is no sign of the disease letting-up. Today, Brazil's national response is overseen by an active duty army general with no experience in public health.
