President Bolsonaro's coronavirus strategy of ‘putting economy first' is putting thousands of lives at risk. He calculates that the number of deaths will be less costly than the inevitable recession caused by an economic shutdown. Brazil's poorest communities lack refuse collection, have water shortages and open sewers, and are very densely populated. These are perfect conditions for the virus to proliferate. Bolsonaro's televised national address, calling the virus ‘a little flu’, was condemned by business leaders and politicians. Two of his tweets were removed for ‘violating rules’ and defying international guidelines. Bombastic media appearances, dubbed ‘Brazil can't stop’, encouraging citizens to get back to work and downplaying the virus threat, were quickly taken off air. The majority of Brazil's elderly live with family members or someone else who is not their partner.The ‘deny’ strategy is expected to produce a situation worse than Italy in two or three weeks, and a collapsed health system.