As far-right Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro finished announcing on Tuesday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus , he backed away from a small group of reporters and removed the mask covering his face.

Look at my face, Bolsonaro said. There is no need to panic.

And with that, it was clear that one of the worlds chief coronavirus skeptics a man whose inaction and ineptitude have helped foster the planets second-worst COVID-19 outbreak would not change course. Not even his own infection could inspire empathy for the more than 65,000 Brazilians who have already succumbed to the disease.

Any such hope was always faint, bordering on impossible. Bolsonaro is not an empathetic man , and he does not change tune . The desperate calls for him to act like a normal president, like someone he isnt and has never been, are as futile as the similar pleas directed at U.S. President Donald Trump , the man on whom Bolsonaro has modeled himself, his administration, and his response to the pandemic .

Confusion, chaos and violence be it from the states actions or, in the case of the pandemic, its total lack thereof are central to the Bolsonarismo movement. So the presidents positive test will do little to slow the spread of the virus. Rather, his reaction seems likely only to make the situation worse on every front, as he and his supporters bunker down and the response becomes more politicized and chaotic than it already was.

The Brazilian leader has spent the last four months downplaying the virus at every turn, dismissing it as a media conspiracy and a little flu, forcing dissenters, including two health ministers , out of his government, and publicly feuding with governors and other public officials who advocated an aggressive response as COVID-19 spread across the country.

He did not change his tune when nearly two dozen members of the Brazilian government tested positive for the virus after he headed a contingent traveling to Florida in March to meet with Trump. He refused to wear a mask until a judge forced him to , and vetoed a push to mandate facial coverings among the Brazilian public. He has flouted social distancing measures to meet with crowds of supporters and right-wing protesters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia; this weekend, he met with U.S. ambassador to Brazil Todd Chapman to celebrate the Fourth of July , with nary a mask in sight. (Chapman has no symptoms but will be tested , the U.S. embassy said.)

Much as in the U.S. the only country with more infections and deaths than Brazil Bolsonaros response to the pandemic (or utter lack thereof) has created a climate of confusion and polarization around the virus. States and cities have enacted a broad array of social distancing measures and business lockdowns that he has largely undermined. Public health officials have made recommendations that he has ignored.

Many Brazilians who want to take the pandemic seriously dont know how to; many others cannot afford to. Many of the rest, particularly those who count themselves as Bolsonaros most ardent supporters, have no desire to, and at his urging, they have helped turn COVID-19 into just another front in the countrys ongoing culture war .