On the day of writing this editorial, more than 80,000 Brazilian families had already lost their loved ones to COVID-19. People of all ages had their life cycles interrupted and, in almost all cases, a dignified farewell was not even possible. Out of respect for these families, nothing can possibly be said about any positive consequences of this pandemic.

However, here I write about resistance and resilience in times of a pandemic. And for that, I highlight three concepts that will come out of this pandemic even stronger than when it started, namely science, university and the unified health system. Let’s start with science: resilience, because even with the progressive reduction of investments in science and technology in Brazil, our scientists are still involved in research into vaccines, medicines, tests, epidemiological studies, evaluation of health inequalities, among others; resistance, because all this is done at a time when negation and imbecility have become so trivialized, that saying that the earth is flat seems natural.

A year ago, in an act of resistance, Universities took to the streets to protest about budgetary cuts that would make their operation impossible. And even being underfunded, having been defamed as a place of “turmoil,” the Universities stood firm, and in an act of resilience, daily produce knowledge about COVID-19, and provide encouragement to a population that is justifiably terrified, due to the lack of national leadership that should promote peace, rather than war, among those who think differently.

Despite being poorly financed and maligned as much as science and universities, SUS is preventing the tragedy from becoming even greater. In an act of resistance, the system has managed to provide service to all Brazilians with COVID-19 who depend on it. Not all patients are saved, it is true, but unlike what happened in other countries, SUS did not collapse, and it has mitigated a disaster that could have been far more serious. A SUS that, with resilience, attends people, but especially, a SUS composed of resistant and resilient health professionals, who place public health above all difficulties and continue providing care to Brazilians who need it.

For the second time in quick succession, Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is publishing a special issue with articles on COVID-19, proving that Brazilian science is not standing idly by. In the same period, the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel) put EPICOVID19 on the street, which is a project that would normally take a year to plan. It is interesting to make two links between EPICOVID-19 and the origins of the UFPel Epidemiology group. The first is that both the study on infant mortality that gave rise to the 1982 cohort and EPICOVID-19 are inspired by a similar research question: official statistics may not be revealing the real dimension of the problem.

In Rio Grande do Sul, six serological surveys have already been conducted, with a total sample of 27,000 people, and two more will be carried out¹1 Hallal PC, Horta BL, Barros AJD, Dellagostin OA, Hartwig FP, Pellanda LC, Struchiner CJ, Burattini MN, Silveira MF, Menezes AMB, Barros FC, Victora CG. Evolução da prevalência de infecção por COVID-19 no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil: inquéritos sorológicos seriados. Cien Saude Colet 2020; 25(Supl. 1):2395-2401.. Although the percentage of the population with antibodies in the state is just 1%, there is a marked difference between the number of reported cases and the number of people who have already been exposed to the virus²2 Silveira MF, Barros AJD, Horta BL, Pellanda LC, Victora GD, Dellagostin OA, Struchiner CJ, Burattini MN, Valim ARM, Berlezi EM, Mesa JM, Ikeda MLR, Mesenburg MA, Mantesso M, Dall'Agnol MM, Bittencourt RA, Hartwig FP, Menezes AMB, Barros FC, Hallal PC, Victora CG. Nat Med 2020; PMID:32641783.. In Brazil, three serological surveys, with an interval of two weeks between them, were carried out, including almost 90,000 Brazilians in all. It is in the results of the national survey that the second link with the history of Epidemiology at UFPel becomes apparent. EPICOVID-19 shows marked regional, socioeconomic and ethnic-racial inequalities³3 Hallal P, Hartwig F, Horta B, Victora GD, Silveira M, Struchiner C, Vidaletti LP, Neumann N, Pellanda LC, Dellagostin OA, Burattini MN, Menezes AM, Barros FC, Barros AJ, Victora CG. Remarkable variability in SARS-CoV-2 antibodies across Brazilian regions: nationwide serological household survey in 27 states. COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv 2020; May 30. [acessado 2020 Jul 5]. Disponível em: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.30.20117531v1
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/... , which is nothing new for a group of researchers who have been working on health inequalities since the 1980s.

Let us remain resistant and resilient to tackle this pandemic.

References

Publication Dates