Virus skeptic Bolsonaro tests positive
Brazilian leader downplayed severity of virus
RIO DE JANEIRO • Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has sought repeatedly to minimize the coronavirus as he urges the country back to work, has tested positive for COVID-19, he told reporters on Tuesday.
Bolsonaro, who has been an outlier among world leaders in his skepticism of both the coronavirus and preventive measures intended to curb it, was tested Monday evening after developing symptoms that included a fever.
The result adds one more case to what has become the world’s second-worst coronavirus outbreak, after the United States. Brazil has reported more than 1.6 million cases and 66,000 deaths — both believed to be undercounts — an escalating disaster that scientists and health officials say has been exacerbated by Bolsonaro’s frequent dismissal of it.
Bolsonaro, 65, has described COVID-19 as a “little cold,” repeatedly waded into crowds of supporters, threatened to host a large barbecue to spite health measures, and as recently as last week attended a Fourth of July party at the United States Embassy in Brasilia without wearing a mask. A Brazilian court last month ordered Bolsonaro to wear a mask in public.
“In my particular case,” the former army officer said in March, “with my history as an athlete, if I were infected by the virus, I wouldn’t need to worry. I wouldn’t feel anything or, if very affected, it would be like a little flu or little cold.”
Bolsonaro is at least the third world leader to test positive for COVID-19. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was treated in intensive care in April; he has since recovered. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was hospitalized in June and recently resumed work.
Speaking outside the presidential palace Monday evening, Bolsonaro said he felt well. He plans to work in isolation.
U.S. Ambassador Todd Chapman, who hosted Bolsonaro at the July 4 barbecue, said he will also be tested. Uncertainty over Bolsonaro’s coronavirus status has trailed him since almost the beginning of the pandemic. In March, his communication secretary tested positive after U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Bolsonaro, the secretary and others at a dinner at Mar-a-lago.
Bolsonaro has meanwhile urged Brazilians to disobey local orders to close businesses and self-isolate. He’s on his third health minister since the start of the pandemic. He fired the first after clashing over the need for social isolation. Then he pushed out the second, who’d disagreed with Bolsonaro over liberally using hydroxychloroquine to treat virus patients.