A survey produced by the consultancy Kantar points out that since the pandemic, 61% of respondents are still restricted to essential activities outside the home, such as school, work and medical consultation, even after vaccination against Covid-19. The survey, carried out in March of this year, interviewed people from 3,400 homes, in all regions of the country.
THE CNN spoke with infectious disease specialist Alberto Chebabo, director of the Clementino Fraga Filho University Hospital, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), about Brazilians’ fear of leaving home for non-essential activities, even with the retraction of the pandemic.
“It is being very common, but it is not normal. There is an issue that this fear should be treated as post-traumatic stress. Several European countries such as Spain, England, Switzerland, Denmark and France no longer even have restrictive measures, they have completely abandoned them. The moment is now of concern with the psychological sequelae”, says the infectologist.
The specialist, however, highlights another factor that should be on alert: the application of the booster dose of the vaccine. According to data from the Agency CNN 82.84% of the eligible population took both doses of the immunizer, but only 45% of eligible Brazilians took the booster dose.
Chebabo warns that not taking the booster dose can lead to more severe cases of the disease in these people.
Also according to Kantar, in 35% of Brazilian homes at least one resident tested positive for Covid-19 in the first quarter of this year. According to the survey, 90% of respondents say that at least one resident of their homes has received a dose of the vaccine.
In addition to health data, the survey also presented information on the economic consequences of the pandemic. According to the consultancy, 60% of respondents had their financial lives negatively affected by the health crisis at some point.
For the economist at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV), Alberto Ajzental, even if the pandemic economically affects all income groups, the impact occurs differently.
“The richest layers of the population, for example, could not travel internationally, so they changed expenses, so much so that luxury items had an increase in consumption during the pandemic. The poorest strata, on the other hand, suffered a generalized supply shock due to inflation, loss of jobs and income”, he evaluates.
The economist points out that the impact on these families with low purchasing power was stronger in the categories of food and household items, such as cooking gas. The survey also noted that five out of ten respondents changed their eating habits inside and outside the home.
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Source: CNN Brasil
