Deaths from Covid leave a void that also hits the economy

When talking about the friends who died as a result of Covid-19, it is as if Sérgio Rosa, 41 years ago in Demônios da Garoa, apologized to sadness – when saying a more painful sentence, he soon seems to compensate with another one of hope.

The pandemic was cruel to the group: in the last two years, they lost their companion Izael Caldeira, who played timba (percussion instrument), and their businessman, Odilon Cardoso.

“Izael died as a result of Covid-19 in 2021, he was our companion since 1999 and was a great presence in the group’s trajectory. The artist’s trajectory is always full of ups and downs, but we prefer to keep the good times”, he says. .

Odilon, who died in 2020, was the group’s manager for almost 30 years and is defined by Rosa as “the great cog in the group”. “We know it’s difficult, he is also greatly missed. With his death, his daughter, Thais, took over the post.”

He says that, after the mishaps, the group hopes to continue resuming activities. “Unfortunately, you can’t go back in time, but we are all music workers and they felt that way too.”

On Friday (10), the country reached the mark of 668,007 lives lost and 31,416,072 people infected, according to a survey by the consortium of press vehicles. The numbers have improved from vaccination, but the last few weeks have seen an increase in new cases.

The substantial loss of life, in addition to grieving families, translates into less income. From March 2020 to March 2022, the loss to the country in human capital is BRL 16.5 billion per year, when considering the monthly income from the work of victims who were up to 69 years old and the income of the elderly at from the age of 70.

The calculation was made by researchers Claudio Considera and Juliana Trece, from FGV Ibre (Brazilian Institute of Economics of Fundação Getulio Vargas) and estimates how much these people would earn in life.

For these calculations, data from Pnad (National Household Sample Survey) and other sources, such as the Synthesis of Social Indicators, also from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) were used.

If it weren’t for the pandemic, these workers who had their lives shortened would achieve a total income of BRL 285.9 billion over the course of their careers, considering the IBGE’s projections for life expectancy, according to the researchers.

“He was my best friend”, says FAU-USP (Faculty of Architecture of the University of Paulo) professor Fábio Mariz Gonçalves, remembering his colleague Silvio Macedo, who passed away in 2021. “He was a very passionate professor for teaching, he could have retired 15 years ago.”

A reference in the teaching of landscaping in the country, Macedo trained professors from other universities and helped to establish a network of researchers in his area, he started teaching in 1967. , on campus, swam every day at USP and met his wife in the university’s choir.

“In 2017, he suffered a stroke, which affected his mobility. I ended up taking over the guidance of part of his students. But he continued teaching anyway. He died about a month before he could receive the first dose of the vaccine and left a void that we’ll never be able to fill.”

“The way Brazil dealt with the pandemic was a disgrace, when you think that this is a disease that reaches us easily and we still don’t know what all the side and long-term effects are”, says Considera, from Ibre.

He adds that the calculations take into account the income that was lost with these deaths, but there are other important aspects, such as the knowledge that each person will no longer pass, a baggage formed throughout life.

“A 40-year-old friend, an expert in statistics, died at the beginning of the pandemic, she was in good health. A family’s income was lost and the teachings that it fails to pass on. We, who stayed, can no longer count on knowledge her that was so important to our work.”

LOSSES FROM THE PANDEMIC GO BEYOND THE NUMBERS

The marks left by the health crisis on the economy are visible. Last week, a report by the Penssan Network (Brazilian Network for Research in Food and Nutrition Sovereignty and Security) pointed out that 33 million people are hungry in Brazil, a higher level than three decades ago.

Also last week, a survey by the IBGE, which considers sources of resources besides work, such as benefits from social programs, pointed out that the 5% of the population with the lowest income had a 33.9% drop in average income from 2020 to 2021.

Ballet Manguinhos, created ten years ago in a community in Rio de Janeiro, lost its founder last year, physical educator Daiana Ferreira. This year, the contract with a North American association signed by her ends, and the project is now looking for a new sponsor not to close.

In a scenario of social distancing and remote work as privileges for part of the population, Covid-19 killed more than 90 human rights defenders in the first year of the pandemic alone, according to a survey by the organization Justiça Global.

Among them were people who participated in the struggle for land and territories, such as chief Aritana Yawalapiti, and LGBTQIA+ rights activist Amanda Marfree, who left in 2020.

“You know those losses that are difficult to understand? We lost an exemplary professional and an unusual person, who used her life experience to show other trans women the possibility of winning in life”, says Marcella Montteiro, Amanda’s friend who worked with she at the CRD (Center for Reference and Defense of Diversity).

Amanda and she participated in the first group of the Transcidadania program, of social reintegration and rescue of citizenship for transvestites, trans women and men in situations of vulnerability.

With it, the center lost one of the bridges to get closer to the community, recalls Eduardo Barbosa, director of the CRD. “She became a well-known socio-educational counselor and helped several people during the pandemic, but she ended up not surviving this terrible moment.”

HUMAN CAPITAL WILL TAKE TIME TO BE REBUILDED

The pandemic years were also cruel in the daily lives of companies – especially the smaller ones. The crisis caused by the coronavirus affected the revenue of 89% of small businesses in 2021, according to a survey by FGV/Sebrae.

For CS, 34, from Ceará, the death of her fiancé, Caio, materialized when the security screen installation company he created closed its doors. “It was his big dream, it was from there that we took the resources to pay the payment for our wedding party, but there was no time to get married.”

With Caio’s death at the end of 2020, his father and brother took over the business, but their lack of experience weighed heavily and the company closed within a few months.

The clothing and towel brand created by André Luis, an activist from the outskirts of Greater São Paulo, escaped the same fate. With his death in January of this year, Estilo Black and Estilo Toalhas were taken over by his mother and sister.

André was also co-founder of the NGO Taboafro. He worked to strengthen the black population and the religions of African origins in Taboão da Serra, in Greater São Paulo, the intensity and dedication remained, says another founder of the organization, Clayton Luiz.

“Before, black militancy was seasonal, we managed to establish a regular calendar in the city. His dream of setting up a shelter for vulnerable people, especially those linked to the causes we defend, became our goal. And when it is ready, it will take his name.”

Ana Marangoni’s name, among the other geographers at USP, is usually associated with terms such as “erudite” and “amable”. Perhaps her origins, in the interior of São Paulo, help to explain her affectionate and humble way, despite the more than 60 years dedicated to the profession, risks her colleague Yuri Tavares Rocha.

“In addition to being a professor at the university, she had a great role in government planning, advised several municipalities in their master plans, worked in city halls and agencies. She was a reference for all of us”, he says.

The image he makes when trying to calculate the loss of his friend, who passed away in 2021, is that of a library that has suddenly been locked and it is as if no one knows how to unlock it. “She was concerned with making the students able to apply the knowledge in their professional lives. This gap cannot be filled, but at least she was able to guide many people.”

People are irreplaceable and when they are individuals who have had their own unique backgrounds, this becomes even more visible, says Helena Nader, president of ABC (Brazilian Academy of Sciences).

She adds that the teams of researchers, academics and scientists in Brazil are already reduced and should take time to recover from this blow. “We will have to form new human capital and keep science alive, despite all recent efforts to the contrary by the Brazilian government.”

On Thursday (9), alongside the President of the United States, Joe Biden, during the Summits of the Americas, Bolsonaro again blamed the distancing measures for the economic problems.

Experts, however, reinforce that the government has invested in a false dilemma between saving the economy or preserving lives. Also in March 2021, more than 1,500 economists signed a letter calling for distancing measures and coordinated national action. “Experience has shown that even countries that initially chose to avoid the lockdown ended up adopting it,” the text read.

The Covid CPI report, from October last year, also pointed out the lack of action by the government to organize the fight against the pandemic, highlighting the delay in the purchase of immunizations – according to the CPI, “the most serious omission by the federal government was the deliberate delay in the purchase of vaccines”.