Children under 5 years old account for 12.5 percent of deaths by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in Brazil. The data comes from the government’s Transparency Portal and will influence state governors’ decisions to reopen schools — or keep them closed. Experts have advised against resuming classes at the present time. That, of course, might create other issues for policymakers who must find ways to provide school lunches to children who rely on these meals on a daily basis. Moreover, transforming the school system into a remote-education format could further increase the gap between poor and rich students.
Unlike many countries in the world, infections from Covid-19 in Brazil are more common among people between 20 and 49 years old. In the city of Rio de Janeiro, for instance, 43 percent of registered cases were found in people aged between 30 and 49, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
The total number of deaths among young people also exceeds the world average. In Brazil, 7 percent of those killed by Covid-19 were between 40 and 50 years old, and 3.9 percent were between 20 and 39.