
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reportedly tests positive for coronavirus - mot2ba
https://www.businessinsider.com/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-president-coronavirus-test-positive-2020-3
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gberger
He met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend. This might escalate very
rapidly.

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tantalor
Who is the "he" in your comment?

~~~
gberger
Jair Bolsonaro. Edit: sorry, I had mistyped my original comment. Edited.

~~~
tsomctl
Along with Bolsonaro's press secretary, who also tests positive.

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gist
To state what is obvious you have a person who by nature comes in contact with
many people in many situations. (Any many of those they come in contact with
also do). So you'd expect them to have a higher probability of getting
infected.

Not only that but you have a person who specifically might have to avoid not
appearing to be 'business as usual' or not wanting offend people by not having
a meeting or a visit as planned. That's quite a different standard then most
of 'regular' people can in trying to avoid socials situations.

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danso
Fox News has confirmation from his son, however, they are waiting for the 2nd
test results: [https://www.foxnews.com/world/brazil-bolsonaro-tests-
positiv...](https://www.foxnews.com/world/brazil-bolsonaro-tests-positive-
coronavirus)

> _Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo told Fox News that they are doing further testing
> to confirm the diagnosis, adding that they expect the second set of testing
> results later Friday._

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gberger
Haha, of course Eduardo is in touch with Fox News.

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tic_tac
This is a snide and irrelevant comment.

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aiphex
This thread is devolving and should be removed.

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diego_moita
I agree. It belongs to a conspiracy theories or advocacy sub-reddit, not to
HN.

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tremon
I'm sure the narrative will be that he doesn't have Covid-19, he's the victim
of an assassination plot by the medical establishment for speaking out against
them.

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miscaware
Yeah, Bolsonaro has literally never said anything remotely close to that
against the medical establishment.

He did underestimate the virus a few days ago, but he's clearly changed his
mind as the government is releasing emergency measures. I see no problem with
that.

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zekrioca
It was already reported he tested negative.

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standardUser
Everything we know about Donald Trump tells us he is paranoid about
contracting illnesses, going as far as to refuse to be in meetings with
someone who coughs (per multiple reports). I find it hard to imagine he hasn't
been tested given his recent proximity to the Brazilian President and his
staff. But he insists he has not been tested. I really don't understand the
game Trump is playing here. And where the hell is the declaration of a
national emergency? He declares one for his precious wall but not for a global
pandemic?

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nathanaldensr
Tests for world leaders and basketball players; no tests for common people.

I feel like it's probable Trump and other extremely high-ranking government
people have the virus. I also feel like it's not being publicized for
political/economic reasons. I admit this is speculation, but even if Trump,
Pence, etc. were tested and "reported" to be negative, should we believe that?

~~~
microcolonel
I mean, there are practical and non-nefarious reasons not to tell people that
your Commander in Chief is out of commission.

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addicted
Not in this case. What’s there to be gained?

If it goes badly he will be dead. You can’t hide that. If it goes well and he
recovers in a few weeks he will still need to be quarantined for those few
weeks. So you wouldn’t really see him or anyone around him so people will
automatically assume he has contracted it. Especially since he was known to
have been hanging out with several people who have now tested positive.

So lying about the Presidents health may be a good idea in certain situations.
It almost certainly isn’t in this specific situation.

Edit: Also, if he lies about it, the hundred of people who have been around
him might not take the actions they need to and continue making things worse
fornthemselves and those around them.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
There is nothing to be gained from your perspective and prediction of future
events.

Trump has taken MANY actions that defy conventional logic about Gain/Loss and
Future Predictions.

I think a lot of people view the his primary job to be inspiring confidence in
our leadership, and avoiding hysteria and mass panic over the virus. If the
person who is supposed to be telling us everything is ok, is actually not ok
themselves, the panic could grow very quickly.

I agree with you that it would be stupid to lie. But that doesn't mean they
wouldn't be tempted to do it anyway. Especially because we could just have
messages about everyone being quarantined for safety and they could get away
with hiding the President for awhile.

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pastor_elm
Yet somehow Brazil only has 154 reported cases...

