Were the socio-economic determinants of municipalities relevant to the increment of COVID-19 related deaths in Brazil in 2020?

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has been showing a pattern of distribution of related deaths associated with individual socioeconomic status (SES). However, little is known about the role of SES in the distribution of the mortality rate in different population, from an ecological perspective. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of socioeconomic factors in the distribution of the COVID-19-related mortality rate among Brazilian municipalities in 2020. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional, observational, population-wide, and ecological study, using data of COVID-19-related deaths from the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System database (SIVEP-Gripe) and SES from the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), the Human Development Index (HDI), the Geographic Index of the Socioeconomic Context and Social Studies (GeoSES), and 2010 Demographic Census (IBGE/Brazil). We computed crude, age- and sex-standardized, and the latter offset by the time of exposure to the epidemic mortality rates. To determine socioeconomic factors associated with mortality rates we used log-linear models with state codes as a random effect and Haversine variance-covariance matrix. RESULTS: 191,528 deaths were related to COVID-19 and distributed in 4,928 (88.55%) Brazilian municipalities. Whatever the socioeconomic indexes used, the R2 were very small to explain SMRT. Consistent across all socioeconomic indexes used, high-income, more educated, and well infrastructure municipalities generally had higher mortality rates. CONCLUSION: Excluding the effect of demographic structure and pandemic timing from mortality rates, the contribution of SES to explain differences in COVID-19-related mortality rates among municipalities in Brazil became very low. The impact of SES on COVID-19-related mortality may vary across levels of aggregation. Urban infrastructure, which includes mobility structures, more complex economic activities and connections, may have influenced the average municipal death rate.

The rhetoric of reaction and the disinformation campaign in fake news about the Covid-19 pandemic.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the argumentative structure of fake news in the Covid-19-era by focusing on its argumentative strength and persuasiveness. The concepts of Rhetoric of Reaction (HIRSCHMAN, 1992), Ethos and Pathos of Aristotle's Classical Rhetoric and Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's New Rhetoric (1996) were the framework for the analysis. Our methodology was based on the analysis of three fake news reports related to the negationist campaign against the Covid-19 pandemic, each of which was taken as a prototype of the following categories proposed by Hirschman (1992): perversity, futility, and jeopardy theses. The results indicate that fake news should be understood as an inherently digital phenomenon that uses well-developed argumentative strategies as its objective is to cause discredit and doubt in the public opinion. Therefore, if we take the average citizen into account, fake news is highly persuasive and consequently should be considered of extreme danger to society and its democratic and scientific principles. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a estrutura argumentativa de fake news sobre o Covid-19, procurando verificar sua força argumentativa e sua capacidade de persuasão. Tomamos por base para nossa análise os conceitos de A retórica da intransigência de Hirschman (1992), de Ethos e Pathos da Retórica de Aristóteles (1998) e Tratado da argumentação. A nova retórica de Perelman e Olbrechts-Tyteca (1996). Nossa metodologia baseou-se na análise de três fake news relacionadas à campanha negacionista contra a Pandemia de Covid-19, cada uma tomada como prototípica das categorias levantadas por Hirschman (1992): a Tese da Perversidade, a Tese da Futilidade e a Tese do Medo. Os resultados obtidos indicam que as fake news devem ser entendidas como um fenômeno inerentemente digital que se utiliza de estratégias argumentativas bem elaboradas, segundo seu objetivo de suscitar o descrédito e a dúvida da opinião pública. Portanto, levando-se em conta o cidadão médio, podemos dizer que as fake news têm uma grande capacidade persuasiva e por isso devem ser encaradas como algo de extremo perigo para a sociedade e seus princípios democráticos e científicos. (Portuguese) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Revista de Estudos da Linguagem is the property of Revista de Estudos da Linguagem and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Catching a glimpse: Corona-life and its micro-politics in academia.

The spread of COVID-19 acutely challenges and affects not just economic markets, demographic statistics and healthcare systems, but indeed also the politics of organizing and becoming in a new everyday life of academia emerging in our homes. Through a collage of stories, snapshots, vignettes, photos and other reflections of everyday life, this collective contribution is catching a glimpse of corona-life and its micro-politics of multiple, often contradicting claims on practices as many of us live, work and care at home. It embodies concerns, dreams, anger, hope, numbness, passion and much more emerging amongst academics from across the world in response to the crisis. As such, this piece manifests a shared need to - together, apart - enact and explore constitutive relations of resistance, care and solidarity in these dis/organizing times of contested spaces, identities and agencies as we are living-working-caring at home during lockdowns.