Wealthy fleeing Zika, like rich people do
Brazilians who can afford to are getting out for the time being
Self-exile is not a new concept when it comes to avoiding disease — that is, if one can afford it.
For those privileged enough to live in a country with low rates of infectious disease, the obvious option is to stay put. Several Olympic athletes—most prominently pro golfer Rory McIlroy—announced they will skip the Rio de Janeiro games over Zika concerns.
For the wealthy classes already in Brazil though, the choice is whether to stay or travel abroad to avoid the virus — emphasis here on “choice.”
Considered the epicenter of the Zika epidemic, Brazil offers little chance for escape for most residents. Amid a frail economy and a disparate class structure, poor and unemployed families have little choice but to ride out their luck in the slums.
But the wealthy have options, and many are taking extended vacations or sabbaticals in less affected countries. In May, the World Health Organization declared Europe’s overall risk low to moderate for the spring and summer.
When she learned she was pregnant, Regina de Lima, an audiovisual producer from Rio de Janeiro, packed up and took off for Europe with her husband, before Brazil’s mosquito season. “I am in a sort of exile — I could be at home with my husband, seeing my own doctors, but instead I’m here in Europe with a suitcase,” she told the AP.
Although the connection is still murky, the CDC warns of a possible link between the Zika virus, transmitted by mosquito and sexual intercourse, and microcephaly, a birth defect in which a baby’s head is born smaller than average and which can lead to developmental impairment.
Lima was fortunate. Her relative wealth allowed her to find peace of mind in a country where Zika is far less of a concern.
Though the digital age makes it easier for valuable information to spread and for people to respond, for example, by moving away, the wealthy classes have a history of fleeing high-risk areas. Swap the word “Zika” for “typhoid” and you’ve got this blurb from 1910 New York Times about an affluent family taking flight.
In 1793, a deadly yellow fever epidemic hit Philadelphia, then the nation’s capital. The disease claimed 5,000 out of a population of 45,000, which included fleeing slaves and prominent Revolutionary War figures. In a letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Every body, who can, is flying from the city…I have withdrawn my daughter from the city, but am obliged to go to it every day myself.” As a result of the virus, the US officially relocated its capital to Washington, D.C.
However, even the prerogatives of privilege have their limits. As of June, 46 countries are experiencing their first outbreaks, according to the WHO — so the travel option may not be much of a solution for long. In fact, it may be the ease of intercontinental air travel itself that is bringing Zika to more temperate climates in the first place.
For those who don’t have a choice to avoid or escape, “What can we do? Just hope that it doesn’t affect the baby,” lamented Tainara Lourenco to the AP. Unemployed, five months pregnant at the time, and with no way of affording a plane ticket, she’d resigned herself to chance.
