Uncertainty in several Mexican states due to a feared third Covid wave

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Cases of coronavirus are on the rise in at least ten Mexican states, and authorities are already talking about a possible third wave of covid which, in municipalities such as Ciudad Juarez, has led to growing concern in the health and commercial sectors, which the crisis has hard hit.

After 11 weeks with continuous drops in the number of infections, the ten states with increases are Chihuahua, where Ciudad Juarez is located and Baja California Sur, Mexico City, Colima Durango, Mexico State, Morelos, Nayarit, Quintana Roo and Tlaxcala.

As a result, the Mexican government’s czar against the coronavirus, Hugo Lopez-Gatell, has warned citizens and local authorities throughout the week that this could lead to “a third wave of the epidemic.”

The country has more than 2.3 million infections and 213,048 deaths, making it the third nation globally in terms of an absolute number of deaths, behind only the United States and Brazil.

And according to the most recent official report on excess mortality, released on Tuesday, 61% more deaths would be due to covid until March 6. This brings the death toll to more than 332,000 people.

A brutal figure that makes a new wave of infections and deaths even more worrying.

DOCTORS IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Mexico has administered more than 14.5 million doses to the elderly, health personnel, and even, as of Tuesday, to teachers.

The country has vaccinated thousands of doctors in the front line of the fight against covid. Still, tens of thousands more, many workers in private clinics, outpatient clinics, or pharmacies, have not received the antidote.

Faced with this alarming situation, a group of doctors from the private sector demonstrate these days near a border bridge in Ciudad Juarez with the objective, they said, of asking for humanitarian aid and obtaining the vaccine against covid-19.

The protesters went to the place with placards containing phrases such as: “I am also a first contact” or “We are real, we are doctors, and we do exist.”

The feeling of displeasure for not being considered in the priority groups to be immunized is noticeable.

“The health system collapsed at the end of last year, the hospitals were saturated, and many people went to buy oxygen. Those people were attended by private personnel, who have not been considered for immunization because of their age,” Dr. Lorenzo Soberanes lamented to Efe on Wednesday.

He mentioned that the federal government has also forgotten about nurses, cleaning, and laboratory personnel. They have not been considered susceptible personnel because they are in the private sector.

The medical sector fears that Chihuahua will return to the red epidemiological traffic light (maximum danger), as this would imply greater pressure on doctors.

After months with several regions on the ropes, Mexico now has a low occupancy level in both general and critical care beds. However, Chihuahua is the most pressured state, with an occupancy of ventilator beds between 30 % and 49 %.

In this context, around 300 professionals have joined an initiative of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ciudad Juarez to obtain the dose in neighboring El Paso, in the United States.

BUSINESSES VERY CONCERNED

In the business sector, the outlook is discouraging for entrepreneurs.

“We are just beginning to have people in the establishment, and if we go back to the red light, it would be taking 5 or 6 steps backward, a strong setback for the city,” Alberto Huerta, worker of simple food business, told Efe.

Like the doctors, although he also fears that a red light will be declared for Chihuahua for different reasons, which would imply the suspension of most activities considered non-essential.

With discouragement, he pointed out that those who have had to live through covid-19 are more aware of how to prevent it, and those who have not suffered from it do not believe in how necessary it is to take care to avoid it.

“In this business, we try to cooperate with the city so that this virus affects as little as possible. We have little working, and with the change of traffic light, it would be picking up all over again,” he lamented.

The country had a historical economic contraction of 8.2% in 2020. And as a result, according to statistical data, more than 1 million establishments closed their doors for good.

So the business where Huerta works resembles the millions of businesses scattered across Mexico that have struggled or closed during the pandemic.