Just over three months since the national restaurant association Canirac introduced its “Safe Table” program to protect diners from the risk of coronavirus infection, 75% of restaurants in Baja California have been certified by the scheme and reopened.
Miguel Ángel Badiola Montaño, president of the Baja California chapter of Canirac, said that more and more restaurants are being certified as “Safe Table” businesses every day.
The program provides training to restaurants on the implementation of health protocols to reduce the risk of the coronavirus spreading among diners and staff.
Badiola said that 2,318 restaurants in Tijuana, Baja California’s largest city, have reopened since the initiative was launched.
The Canirac official estimated that between 10% and 12% of restaurants in the northern border state won’t reopen because they don’t have the economic means to do so. Badiola said the situation in Baja California is much better than in many other states, where up to 30% of restaurants are not expected to reopen after being forced to close due to the pandemic.
Canirac predicted in May that 100,000 restaurants would close permanently and that 300,000 jobs would be lost in the sector.
In addition to its “Safe Table” program, the restaurant association is also supporting a scheme called Tu Cocina Local (Your Local Kitchen), which provides training to staff at fondas (small, informal eateries), taquerías (taco restaurants) and torterías (sandwich shops) on the implementation of health measures that reduce the risk of coronavirus infection and make diners feel safe.
One factor that could encourage Baja California residents to dine out is that active coronavirus cases in the state decreased 41% last week compared to the week before.
There were 387 active cases in the state on September 14, according to official data, 270 fewer than a week prior.
Baja California Health Minister Alonso Pérez Rico said that all municipalities in the state dropped in the national rankings for active cases. He highlighted that Tijuana dropped to 47th from 38th, Ensenada fell to 71st place from 65th and Mexicali improved its ranking to 87th from 71st.
Tijuana now has fewer than 200 active cases while Ensenada and Mexicali both have fewer than 100.
The Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa currently has the highest number of active coronavirus cases among Mexico’s more than 2,400 municipalities followed by Monterrey, Nuevo León, and Mérida, Yucatán. All three municipalities have more than 700 active cases.
Baja California’s accumulated case tally currently stands at 18,360, the 13th highest total among Mexico’s 32 states, and its Covid-19 death toll is 3,322, the fifth highest total in the country.
Mexicali’s death toll is 1,537, the fourth highest total among Mexico’s municipalities after Puebla city and the Mexico City boroughs of Iztapalapa and Gustavo A. Madero.
The national accumulated case tally stands at 676,487 with 4,771 new cases registered on Tuesday. The official death toll is 71,678 with 629 additional fatalities reported.
Mexico City leads the country for accumulated cases and Covid-19 deaths with 113,118 of the former and 11,318 of the latter.
Source: El Imparcial (sp)
