8007 Covid
in the Amazon – Timecoded Script
00:00:06,300
--> 00:00:11,500
- Reporter
(VO): Dia Blanco, white day, as they say in Manaus. It's when the rain
persists and the flood threatens. As if the inhabitants still needed that. As
the virus continues to spread.
00:00:01:11
Text on
screen: Manaus, State of Amazonas
00:00:24,478
--> 00:00:28,638
Reporter
(VO): Manaus is now
the capital of the COVID-19 epidemic with record-breaking morbidity rates. Up
to 200 deaths per day in January.
00:00:39:07
Title
Card: Covid in the Amazon
00:00:46,767
--> 00:00:49,724
- Silvio Cavuscens
(DIALOGUE) : Here's
the line for the vaccination. We're in the second wave which is much worse than
the first - it's catastrophic on every level.
00:00:53:04
Lower
Third: Silvio
Cavuscens
Co-Founder
of SECOYA, NGO
00:00:57,456
--> 00:00:59,856
- Reporter
(VO): For 45 years, Silvio's been at the bedside of Amazonia's native
people. Fragile peoples to whom this Swiss man from Geneva has dedicated his
life.
00:01:10,740
--> 00:01:15,260
Reporter
(VO): This morning
he came to visit a emergency health center set up by members of indigenous
communities in the suburbs of Manaus.
00:01:20,740
--> 00:01:23,020
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
How are you doing?
00:01:24,223
--> 00:01:28,423
-
(DIALOGUE): We
improvised a little bit as you can see.
00:01:30,965
--> 00:01:35,860
- Nurse
(DIALOGUE): We're
going to boost the saturation of oxygen. You have to push through the nostril
and expel the air through the mouth.
00:01:40,900
--> 00:01:45,180
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
Lucas, this lady, how long has she been sick?
00:01:45,260
--> 00:01:49,180
-Man 1 (DIALOGUE) : She's been here for a week.
00:01:50,836
--> 00:01:54,340
-Man 2
(DIALOGUE) : She's
had antibiotics, but we can't send her home because she needs oxygen.
00:01:58,980
--> 00:02:02,260
- Reporter
(VO): Thirty indigenous people came to settle down on this earth on the
edge of town to get a job. These are vulnerable and often neglected
populations.
00:02:08,580
--> 00:02:11,020
Reporter
(VO): Miqueias, 25
years old, the head of the neighborhood, took over from his father, who died of
the virus a few months ago.
00:02:21:05
Lower
Third: Miqueias Kokoma
Indigenous
Chief
00:02:18,020
--> 00:02:20,140
- Miqueias
Kokoma (DIALOGUE) :
They're much better off here.
00:02:20,220
--> 00:02:22,138
Miqueias
Kokoma (DIALOGUE) :
It's worse to send them to the hospital... because they're going to intubate
them but without oxygen, they'll die.
00:02:28,100
--> 00:02:31,300
-Man 2
(DIALOGUE) : See,
there's nothing left. It doesn't even move when you twist it.
00:02:35,060
--> 00:02:38,740
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
They thought they still had an oxygen reserve but they don't.
00:02:41,140
--> 00:02:44,420
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
These cylinders are the last ones they had. It's dramatic throughout the region
for indigenous peoples.
00:02:49:00
Lower
Third: Silvio
Cavuscens
Co-Founder
of SECOYA, NGO
00:02:49,340
--> 00:02:57,064
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
The luck here is that we're just on the outskirts of Manaus but a little bit
further out they are totally abandoned, without communication or any kind of
transportation or healthcare.
00:03:11,180
--> 00:03:14,500
- Reporter
(VO): When they live outside of their traditional lands, the natives lose
their customary status to the state.
00:03:20:07
Lower
Third: Miqueias Kokoma
Indigenous
Chief
00:03:18,700
--> 00:03:21,420
- Miqueias
Kokoma (DIALOGUE) :
People need to know what's going on. Just today, we have had 16 positive cases.
00:03:25,100
--> 00:03:28,860
- Reporter
(VO): At the edge of the cities, many find themselves marginalized. This is
what Miqueias denounces on social networks, hoping the authorities of the country
will react.
00:03:38,300
--> 00:03:41,220
Reporter
(VO): A study
published in the medical review "Science" claimed that the city had
reached collective immunity in October.
00:03:45,660
--> 00:03:49,420
Reporter
(VO): And yet, for
the past few weeks, it's facing a resurgence of new cases. This seems linked to
the appearance of a so-called "Amazonian" variant. More powerful,
more contagious.
00:03:58,980
--> 00:04:02,820
Reporter
(VO): It's hard to
say, but it's sowing chaos in hospitals and plunging the families of the
victims in disarray.
00:04:11:01
Lower
Third: Andre
Close to
a Patient
00:04:08,740
--> 00:04:10,660
- Andre
(DIALOGUE) : We
lost my mother-in-law five days ago. We buried a loved one another day and the
next day, my father went into the hospital. And potentially we're gonna bury
him too. That's the situation.
00:04:36,050
--> 00:04:39,100
- Reporter
(VO): Saturated with patients, hospitals appeal to the absent state. So we
turn to God. This pastor comes every morning to pray with his people.
00:04:50,460
--> 00:04:58,460
-Pastor
(DIALOGUE) : My
God, blow the wind of life on her, in the name of Jesus.
00:04:58,540
--> 00:05:04,540
Pastor
(DIALOGUE) : Give
her the strength to recover by the will of the Holy Spirit.
00:05:06,702
--> 00:05:08,820
- Reporter
(VO): 90% of infections from the second wave are due to the new variant.
Silvio is all the more worried about it. He came to get some news from friend
of his who is a nurse. It's not good.
00:05:21,501
--> 00:05:25,621
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
I see people die, I lose colleagues, neighbors. Looks like it's getting worse and
worse, What do you think?
00:05:30:00
Lower
Third: Elayne Galvao
Nurse
00:05:29,700
--> 00:05:31,860
- Elayne
Galvao (DIALOGUE) : What we know is that this new variant is more lethal. And
the problem is that people don't respect recommendations from the health authorities
enough. Look at this video, that day was chaos.
00:05:48,740
--> 00:05:52,380
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
Where was it?
00:05:52,460
--> 00:05:56,300
- Elayne
Galvao (DIALOGUE) : In our unit. When the oxygen reserves were completely
out. Relatives went to buy oxygen cylinders themselves to try and save those
who were hospitalized.
00:06:07,300
--> 00:06:09,420
Elayne
Galvao (DIALOGUE) : Look
at this. I felt goosebumps all over. I felt so much anguish. It was awful. There
was nothing we could do.
00:06:49,139
--> 00:06:51,595
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
The town wasn't shut down. There was an attempt to close the shops, but it
didn't work. Now we pay the consequences.
00:07:04,580
--> 00:07:09,433
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
No public policy, the public didn't play along.
00:07:11,980
--> 00:07:16,220
- Reporter
(VO): With his friend Yura, Silvio reaches another indigenous neighborhood,
where the virus infected residents for the second time.
00:07:30,411
--> 00:07:33,033
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
Hello, how are you?
00:05:30:00
Lower
Third: Eliane
28 years
old
Infected
for the second time
00:07:35,821
--> 00:07:38,020
- Eliane
(DIALOGUE) : I still have a high fever, sometimes I wake up shaking. I
still have a headache, I'm sick to my stomach and I'm exhausted. When my
husband gets home from work, I no longer have the strength to make him coffee.
00:07:55,180
--> 00:07:57,700
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
Are you still on medication?
00:07:57,780
--> 00:08:05,473
- Eliane
(DIALOGUE) : Yes, and traditional herbal teas too.
00:08:08,320
--> 00:08:14,160
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
In Yura's home village, there are over 900 of them. They live in a small town on
the border with Peru. They're uncared for.
00:08:15:17
Lower
Third: Silvio Cavuscens
Co-Founder
of SECOYA, NGO
00:08:20,274
--> 00:08:25,300
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
If those who live near the city don't have proper healthcare imagine the
natives who live on their land, more than 1,000 km from the town hall. There's
no care whatsoever. It's every man for himself.
00:08:44,140
--> 00:08:47,820
- Reporter
(VO): Every man for himself, or when the drugs run out. Back to traditional
methods.
00:08:54,965
--> 00:08:59,900
-Claudia
Bare (DIALOGUE) : This, for example, cinnamon, this helps to calm patients who
are in a serious condition.
00:09:04,380
--> 00:09:07,700
- Reporter
(VO): Herbal remedies medicinal products help relieve or strengthen the
immune system.
00:09:10,540
--> 00:09:14,260
Reporter
(VO): These ethnic
Baré and Sateré women have lost nothing of the know-how of their ancestors nor the
solidarity in the face of adversity.
00:09:20,100
--> 00:09:23,060
Reporter
(VO): In these
boxes, hygienic equipment that the associations hope ship in a few days to remote
villages upriver.
00:09:28,802
--> 00:09:35,362
-Clarice
(DIALOGUE) : Silvio,
I also have these masks that you can send to the chiefs.
00:09:37,700
--> 00:09:39,969
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE): It's important because when they go to the city, they
don't have masks.
00:09:42,660
--> 00:09:46,860
-Clarice
(DIALOGUE) : And we
also have oral hygiene kits for children.
00:09:46,980
--> 00:09:50,735
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE): We'll hand them out in the village, thank you very
much.
00:09:55:08
Lower
Third: Clarice Duhigo
President
of AMARN
00:09:52,820
--> 00:09:57,140
-Clarice
Duhigo (DIALOGUE) :
Our fear is that the virus could affect peoples who only have a few members
left. If they die, it's a whole ethnic group that's dying out.
00:10:07,780
--> 00:10:10,740
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE): It's a good thing there's the Indian movement. There's
this solidarity between peoples. And this friendship that unites people. They're
in the same boat, are facing the same challenges.
00:10:28,658
--> 00:10:31,500
- Reporter
(VO): On the Rio Negro, a few rare boats provide a vital link with other
communities isolated upriver.
00:10:36,220
--> 00:10:39,140
Reporter
(VO): Normally,
Silvio makes this trip. Since the pandemic he has forbidden himself for fear of
bringing the virus to the heart of populations like the Yanomamis. Some groups
have never had contact with the outside world.
00:10:52,340
--> 00:10:57,220
- Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
Before contact occurs with the indigenous peoples, these people were capable to
provide for themselves. The contact brought a lot of pain.
00:11:07,580
--> 00:11:12,220
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
It's brought diseases, viruses, unknown syndromes that they've suffered from a
lot. A simple cold can turn into pneumonia. A child is so fragile that he may
die from it.
00:11:26,780
--> 00:11:31,700
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
The infant mortality rate among indigenous peoples is five times higher than
the normal population.
00:11:37,260
--> 00:11:40,940
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
I'm starting to miss them. Seriously.
00:11:41,020
--> 00:11:43,860
Silvio
Cavuscens (DIALOGUE):
We miss our Yanomamis friends. We're quite close to them, you know we're trying
to build a future with them. We miss the meetings, discussing strategies, looking
for solutions. And build a future for these people.
00:12:03,251
--> 00:12:08,540
- Reporter
(VO): He'll remain at the dock for the sake of 26,000 Yanomamis and dozens
of other groups that form the native communities of Amazonia.