Gradually, the country is returning to normal - a normal that neglects the face of the population's suffering. We have reached the 100,000 dead mark by Covid-19. We see people progressively abandoning social distancing.

One hundred thousand dead in five months. The novel coronavirus will end 2020 as the third leading cause of death in the country, behind only cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

Governors and mayors who boasted success, such as states in the southern region, now are helplessly witnessing the uncontrolled rise of deaths and cases, already in the 3 million.

Brazil occupies the second position in the absolute number of contaminated and dead, after the USA, which reached 160 thousand deaths (in population proportion, we have already surpassed the USA). We will likely overtake them. The testing rate is low, and the epidemic remains out of control in several locations.

For every seven coronavirus deaths in the world, one is Brazilian. For more than two months, the country has averaged more than 1,000 deaths daily. It is not; it should not be normal.

The poor performance of public authorities in facing the pandemic is all the more revolting because it is preventable. After all, the first case in the country was registered two months after the virus started to spread in China; in the first death, in mid-March, Covid-19 had already prostrated Italy.

Governments had the time and had the Unified Health System in place for a coordinated response. Nor was it a lack of resources, despite the budget crisis, because now tens of billions are being poured into emergency aid without having foreseen more efficient prevention.

The person responsible for the tragedy is called Jair Bolsonaro. Instead of leading a national action, he denied the seriousness of the public health emergency, promoted large gatherings and false therapies, such as chloroquine, and amassed eight cases of infected ministers (another likely world record), in addition to himself and the first lady.

At present, some celebrate the supposed advent of collective immunity as a call to gather stray customers from bars, restaurants, gyms, and shopping centers - not schools, paradoxically. Epidemiologists, however, rule out that such a threshold has been reached.

There is no panacea or vaccine for now. The nation in need of heroes is unhappy, said Bertolt Brecht; more than unhappiness, Brazil's misfortune is not even being able to count on a president and an effective minister of health in this moment of mourning.