The coronavirus continues to ramp up in Baja California Sur (BCS), placing the state in first place for the highest infection rate per capita in all of Mexico.
In addition, 50% of hospital beds in BCS are in use, a figure 6% above the national average, BCS Noticias reports.
The state has a contagion rate of 136.9 per 100,000 residents, significantly higher than the next most infected state, Yucatán, with 84.43.
However, Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis announced today that the fatality rate in the state is half the national average. “It means that our policy of locating and being aggressive, of doing tests, must be working,” he said, adding that BCS has carried out more tests per capita than any other state.
“I have told you on several occasions, whoever seeks finds. What we are doing in Baja California Sur is an intentional search for those infected to be able to locate them because the virus is here,” Mendoza said.
In other coronavirus news, nine gyms have now reopened around the state, direct flights to Los Cabos from London are set to return in 2021, and the state’s celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day on September 15 will take place online only, BCS Noticias reports.
Presidential promises
During President López Obrador’s visit to the state on Friday, non-profit organizations asked him to address the electricity shortage by looking to renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power.
They point to a series of blackouts last summer due to excess demand, which affected 59% of customers in La Paz and 46% in Los Cabos, Milenio reports. The blackouts have begun again this summer in several communities around the state.
Although the government canceled plans for a new power plant due to the economic crisis, López Obrador reiterated that he remains committed to assuaging the state’s energy woes.
Accompanied by his wife, Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, and members of his cabinet, President López Obrador vowed that a combined cycle gas turbine plant will be built in La Paz.
He also promised to put 750 million pesos (US $33.5 million) toward the funding of a new desalinization plant in Cabo San Lucas, Cabovision reports, which would greatly help with chronic water shortage in the municipality where development has severely outpaced infrastructure and resources.
‘Breathing tranquility’
Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis announced today that BCS has the second-lowest homicide rate in Mexico. He made the statement at a press conference with President López Obrador held at the Cabo San Lucas naval headquarters, Tribuna de Los Cabos reports.
“Something fundamental that we have achieved in Baja California Sur is to contain the violence. Violent and intentional homicides related to organized crime through the issues of drug trafficking and drug dealing have decreased significantly,” he said.
In 2017 BCS had the second-highest murder rate in the country when 560 homicides were recorded, a 300% increase over the previous year.
Now, due to the coordinated efforts of municipal, state and federal authorities, the state “breathes tranquility,” Mendoza said.
Big fish
A South American fisherman caught a huge snapper on Thursday while fishing from his kayak 800 meters off El Tule beach in Los Cabos. Julio, known as “El Chileno,” was bottom fishing using a jig when a monster Pacific dog snapper, also known as the cubera snapper, hit his line, BCS Noticias reports, weighing in at 25.5 kilos.
The largest cubera snapper ever caught was a 35.72-kilo monster off Costa Rica in 1988.
New fish
General director of the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park, Carlos Ramón Godínez Reyes, revealed that a team of professional divers discovered several species of fish never before seen within the park’s boundaries, including the blue castañeta, blue damsel, a species of guppy, angelfish and blue betta fish.
The park, which had been closed for the past four months, celebrates in 25th anniversary this year and reopened to visitors and ecotourism on July 29, according to Metropolimx.
‘Tribute of gratitude’
This week seven artists painted a colorful mural dedicated to healthcare workers in San José del Cabo’s historic center, bringing in local children to add their handprints to the project, which graces a wall of the Encanto Inn in the city’s art district. The mural features a series of seven interconnected puzzle pieces each designed by a different artist, one of which bears the message, “If you save one life you’re a hero … but if you save 100 lives you’re a nurse.”
Alfredo Sosa, who helped coordinate the project, thanked health sector workers for the risk they take each day and called the mural a “tribute of gratitude.” Sosa also dedicated the mural to his brother who is battling coronavirus in San Luis Potosí and said he hoped the art project transmits a message of “hope and love and that we will all move forward together,” El Sudcaliforniano reports.
Keeping things in check
BCS’s own Ayleen Maribel Ramírez Toledo won the Continental Chess Association’s World Women’s Open Online Chess Championship on August 2 after going undefeated in five games.
The competition brought together 43 participants from around the globe, BCS Noticias reports.
Ramírez has long been one of Mexico’s standout chess players and has won medals as part of Mexico’s national chess team, which will take on Peru in a tournament Saturday. Joining Ramírez on the team are fellow La Paz residents Algol Jorajuria Mendoz and Paúl Flores Irurso.
Mexico News Daily
