1. COVID-19 in the Brazilian Oil Capital: the successful experience of public and private engagement
- Author
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Ana Cristina Petry, Alessandra da Silva de Alvarenga, Leandro de Oliveira Drummond, Layza Mendes Brandão, Márcio José de Medeiros, Bruno da Costa Rodrigues, Keity Jaqueline Chagas Vilela Nocchi, José Luciano Nepomuceno-Silva, Rodrigo Brindeiro, Janimayri Forastieri de Almeida, Natália Martins Feitosa, Cintia Monteiro-de-Barros, Raphael de Mello Carpes, Flavia Borges Mury, Diego Henrique Silvestre, Graziele Fonseca de Sousa, Carina Azevedo Oliveira Silva, Jhenifer Nascimento da Silva, Rodrigo Nunes-da-Fonseca, Allan Pierre Bonetti Pozzobon, Jackson de Souza Menezes, Daniele das Graças dos Santos, Lupis Ribeiro Gomes Neto, Taynan Motta Portal, Amilcar Tanuri, Renata Coutinho dos Santos, Raquel de Souza Gestinari, Manuela Leal da Silva, and Carla Zilberberg
- Subjects
Labour economics ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Capital (economics) ,Business - Abstract
Background Brazilian strategy to overcome the spread of COVID-19 has been particularly criticized due to the lack of a national coordinating effort and an appropriate testing program. Here, a successful approach to control the spread of COVID-19 transmission is described by the engagement of public (university and governance) and private sectors (hospitals and oil companies) in Macaé, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a city known as the National Oil Capital. Methods Until the 38th epidemiological week, over two percent of the 206,728 citizens were subjected to symptom analysis and massive RT-qPCR testing by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, with positive individuals being notified up to 48 hours after swab collection. Geocodification and spatial cluster analysis were used to limit COVID-19 spreading in Macaé. Findings: Within the first semester after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Brazil, Macaé recorded 1.8% of fatality associated to COVID-19 up to the 38th epidemiological week, which was at least five times lower than the state capital (10.92%). Overall, considering the successful experience of this joint effort of private and public engagement in Macaé, our data suggest that the development of a similar strategy country wise would have saved over 50,000 lives. Interpretation: Quarantine decree by the local government, molecular massive testing coupled to scientific analysis of COVID-19 spreading prevented the catastrophic consequences of the pandemic as seen in other populous cities within the state of Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere in Brazil.
- Published
- 2021