We thought they were missing, that they had disappeared, forgotten at the bottom of drawers. But here they are resurfacing, displayed both in public spaces and indoors. Surgical masks, used during the Covid-19 pandemic, are reappearing in everyday life in Brazil. This time it is not about protecting us from a virus but from the pollution emitted by the forest fires that are devastating the country.
More than 60% of the country, or 5 million square kilometres, is now covered in smoke. A thick, greyish blanket, visible from space and felt deep in the ground. In recent days, in Porto Velho, in the Amazon, the level of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has exceeded 339 micrograms per cubic metre, or 68 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organisation for one year. Meanwhile, Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, has held the unenviable title of “the most polluted city in the world” since 9 September. It was awarded this title by the Swiss company IQAir, which monitors air quality in more than a hundred major cities.
No neighborhood, no suburb escapes this unhealthy coverage. “My throat was so dry and irritated that I had to go to the doctor.”Eliane Silva, a resident of the large Paraisópolis favela in Sao Paulo, was found on Thursday, September 12. This 35-year-old black domestic worker suffers from inflammation of the thyroid. She is far from the only one who is suffocating: her 37-year-old sister has chronic sinusitis, and her 7-year-old daughter has rhinitis… “We try to drink a lot of water and avoid going out, but it is difficult and scary”admits Eliane Silva.
“It feels like we’re in Chernobyl!”
Ten kilometers to the north, in Augusta Park, in the heart of the city, coughs and other expectorations compete with the singing of birds. “It’s horrible!” It feels like we’re in Chernobyl!This alarms Giovana Carolina, 20, who went out to sunbathe in a colourful bikini, despite the layer of smoke. A little further away, two friends sitting on a bench, Caetano Nogueira Marques and Melissa Izabel, aged 21 and 19, seem worried. “Every day for a week, my nose bleeds profusely” The young man recounts when Melissa, for her part, reduced her cigarette consumption: “I have low blood pressure and I can’t walk and talk at the same time”confess.
Hard hit by climate change, which is causing record temperatures in the middle of the southern winter, combined with the consequences of the El Niño phenomenon, Brazil is experiencing what is already considered the worst drought in its history. In 244 municipalities, the level of humidity recorded is equal to or lower than that of the Sahara. This combination has led to huge fires, often of criminal origin: more than 176,000 have been recorded since the beginning of the year by the National Institute for Space Research.
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