Covid – 19: How has it affected Brazilian indiginous tribes?

The Covid-19 pandemic is a phenomenon that due to its highly infectious nature spreads havoc throughout the globe, leading countries to declare quarantines to prevent the number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. Brazil is a country that since the beginning had struggled with the Coronavírus pandemic, being among the world’s leading countries in Covid-19 cases.

Considering that the largest and most developed cities in the country have had their fair share of issues regarding the pandemic, the majority of the Brazilian population is left with the curiosity of how the indiginous people are dealing with the virus. How has a group of people, so mistreated by their country and put in miserable conditions, have dealt with the world’s most recent pandemic?

To begin with, it’s important that we realize the data and information in regards to the indiginoes tribes and Covid – 19 numbers. Firstly, the government has been holding back many data and informations, so much so that the Ministry of the STF (Supremo Tribunal Federal), Luís Roberto Barroso, has given the government 30 days to release the information that has not been presented, with a daily fine of R$100,000 if the order isn’t obeyed. When asked why he demanded the exposure of such data, the ministry replied with “Either the Union is failing in its duty of transparency or there is a serious failure in the provision of essential public service, necessary for the preservation of the life of such peoples”. What the Ministry means with this statement is that there is something going wrong with either the government’s transparency or with the delivery of public services for indiginous tribes, a failure so bad that they wish to hide it from the public.

Source: https://covid19.socioambiental.org

As shown in the image above, Covid-19 data coming from the government stopped reaching the public at around the end of april and beginning of june, 2021. In contrast, the graph also shows how information displayed by the group Sesai has long surpassed the government’s data. This just goes to show that the Ministry’s words were true, that either the government as been extremely incompetent when it comes to delivering information, or that they have failed to protect their countries’ native people.

The Native tribes are very much aware of this, and began promoting their own campaigns in order to promote many elements that would improve their safety from Covid-19 and even other diseases. Firstly, the government has listed indiginous people as one of the first in line for Covid vaccinations so they may quickly get immunized from the disease. This is a major event for the health and safety of the Brazilian native tribes because, considering that these people don’t have their organisms nearly as adapted to the diseases of big cities, they will be protected earlier and therefore prevent earlier deaths. Inside their communities, many indiginous people have also started their own campaigns in order to promote vaccinations. The Vacina Parente campaign is one that has not only been promoting the Covid-19 vaccination, as it has also seeked to inform the public about other diseases that should be prevented, as seen in the example below.

As it was previously mentioned on the initial paragraphs, Covid-19 information in regards to the deaths of the Brazilian indiginous people has been very limited and the ones that are provided are even sometimes outdated, despite that, there is still some degree of information that is still available. According to the DSEI organization (Distritos Sanitários Especiais Indígenas) and the DASI (Departamento de Atenção à Saúde Indígena), the following graphs and data have been provided in order to better understand the range and severity of how Covid-19 has affected the Indigenous population of Brazil.

Source: http://www.saudeindigena.net.br/coronavirus/mapaEp.php

(The graph below contains data from 4/25/2022, graph is updated daily)

Cod. DSEI	DSEI	Suspeitos	Confirmados	Descartados	Infectados (atual)	Cura Clínica	Óbitos
1	ALAGOAS E SERGIPE	0	729	1184	0	717	10
2	ALTAMIRA	0	2350	4086	0	2347	2
3	ALTO RIO JURUÁ	0	1028	609	87	928	12
4	ALTO RIO NEGRO	0	2461	1191	64	2370	26
5	ALTO RIO PURUS	0	886	936	0	876	9
6	ALTO RIO SOLIMÕES	0	2540	1468	0	2477	54
7	AMAPÁ E NORTE DO PARÁ	3	1967	7419	542	1409	14
8	ARAGUAIA	0	495	634	0	488	7
9	BAHIA	7	2322	4799	2	2297	17
10	CEARÁ	0	2211	3414	0	2180	29
11	CUIABÁ	0	1450	890	3	1415	32
12	GUAMÁ-TOCANTINS	0	1703	2418	41	1640	20
13	INTERIOR SUL	81	4668	10216	27	4557	78
14	KAIAPÓ DO MATO GROSSO	0	1728	2291	0	1721	6
15	KAIAPÓ DO PARÁ	54	1358	2850	42	1277	11
16	LESTE DE RORAIMA	0	4904	6408	539	4247	114
17	LITORAL SUL	0	2373	3781	0	2341	29
18	MANAUS	0	1526	3384	0	1490	26
19	MARANHÃO	28	1963	2259	19	1892	43
20	MATO GROSSO DO SUL	3	5669	14737	84	5457	113
21	MÉDIO RIO PURUS	1	662	198	0	655	7
22	MÉDIO RIO SOLIMÕES E AFLUENTES	0	899	1328	0	886	11
23	MINAS GERAIS E ESPÍRITO SANTO	28	1901	4838	0	1886	13
24	PARINTINS	0	711	1373	0	692	19
25	PERNAMBUCO	9	1888	4148	2	1864	19
26	PORTO VELHO	1	2087	4217	1	2060	15
27	POTIGUARA	0	1207	2027	0	1199	8
28	RIO TAPAJÓS	6	2380	3540	66	2288	23
29	TOCANTINS	0	1332	2291	0	1319	11
30	VALE DO JAVARI	0	1124	823	0	1119	3
31	VILHENA	0	1510	2306	2	1487	20
32	XAVANTE	0	1155	4805	0	1086	61
33	XINGU	0	1905	1693	0	1883	22
34	YANOMAMI	5	2158	1208	0	2136	22
Total	226	65250	109769	1521	62686	906

Source: http://www.saudeindigena.net.br/coronavirus/mapaEp.php