We thought they had disappeared, flown away, forgotten at the bottom of drawers. But here they are, resurfacing, worn in public spaces as well as in interiors. Surgical masks, used during the Covid-19 pandemic, are making a comeback in everyday life in Brazil. This time, it is not to protect against a virus but against the pollution emitted by the forest fires that are devastating the country.
More than 60% of the territory, or 5 million square kilometers, is now covered in smoke. A thick grayish layer, visible from space and bitterly felt on the ground. In recent days, in Porto Velho, in the Amazon, the rate of fine particles (PM2.5) has exceeded 339 micrograms per cubic meter, or 68 times the limit recommended by the World Health Organization for a year. For its part, Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, has, since Monday, September 9, held the unenviable title of “most polluted city in the world.” It was awarded to it by the Swiss company IQAir, which monitors air quality in more than a hundred major cities.
Not a single neighborhood, not a single suburb, escapes this unsanitary cover. “My throat is so dry and sore I had to go to the doctor”says Eliane Silva, a resident of the vast favela of Paraisopolis in Sao Paulo, whom we met on Thursday. This 35-year-old domestic worker suffers from an inflamed thyroid. She is far from being the only one suffocating: her sister, 37, suffers from chronic sinusitis, and her 7-year-old daughter, from rhinitis… “We try to drink a lot of water and avoid going out, but it’s difficult and it’s scary.”admitted Eliane Silva.
“It feels like we’re in Chernobyl!”
Ten kilometers north, in Augusta Park, right in the city center, coughing and expectoration compete with the birdsong. “It’s horrible! It’s like we’re in Chernobyl!”warns Giovana Carolina, 20, who has come in a colorful bikini to sunbathe, despite the layer of smoke. A little further away, two friends sitting on a bench, Caetano Nogueira Marques and Melissa Izabel, 21 and 19, have a worried look on their faces. “Every day for a week, my nose has been bleeding profusely,” says the young man, when Melissa, for her part, reduced her cigarette consumption: “I have blood pressure drops and can’t walk and talk at the same time”she confides.
Hard hit by climate change, which causes 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 humidity level recorded is equal to or lower than that of the Sahara. This combination has caused enormous fires, often of arson 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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