Dialogue to save lives now and build the post-pandemic future.

It is undeniable that the world is going through a major health, economic, and social crisis. Countries with developed social protection systems have a greater chance and better possibilities of adopting more effective actions to safeguard the health of their citizens.

Emerging countries, such as Brazil, grapple with other problems like poverty, dengue fever and other diseases, a large number of homeless people, and people lacking access to clean water, basic sanitation, and adequate food.

These are people who are often invisible to state public policies and also to the market.

Given the crisis we are facing, it is essential that all sectors – federal, state, and municipal governments, representatives of employers and employees, retirees, and the financial market – engage in dialogue to implement swift and decisive measures to curb the spread of the virus.

Up to this point, the Union has hesitated in its role of leading the actions. It is primarily up to this entity to call everyone to a large table that, although virtual, should unite everyone to fight against the common enemy, the coronavirus.

It is urgent that all possible actions be taken to save lives now. The conflict between saving the health of the population or the economy is illusory. There is no economy without people. We do not need a thriving economy with families incomplete and destroyed by Covid-19.

Now more than ever, we need economic science to unite with other sciences that are also part of economics. One should guide the other. Our immediate concern is the health crisis. We need to follow the guidance of researchers, doctors, and indeed, the health sciences in their various branches, which have as their object the study of life, health, and disease.

Finally, we need to unite. Now to face the worst enemy of our health, offering healthcare professionals the necessary conditions to carry out their work and fulfill their oath. There is a lack of PPE, a lack of safety.

We cannot forget the other professionals who are bravely out on the streets and in the fields, carrying out essential activities, enabling the majority of the population to stay home.

Having won the battle against the coronavirus, we will need to remain united to recover the economy and resume the country's growth. We will have to produce more, generate jobs, work, distribute wealth, and achieve the long-awaited social inclusion. Everyone contributing their share.

All of this we are capable of doing, provided we know how to engage in dialogue. Let us have the greatness to set aside ideological positions and partisan interests. Let us strip ourselves of vanity and personal ambition.

Dialogue has the power to connect us and guide us toward common and precise actions to overcome the coronavirus now and also to save the economy afterward.

Ultimately, we have a future after the pandemic, and it must be built by all of us, together.