Baja California Sur (BCS) Health Minister Víctor George Flores said this week there has been a 359% increase in coronavirus deaths in the six weeks that the state has been at the orange risk level.
Up until June 15, when the lockdown was partially lifted, the state had seen 37 coronavirus deaths, but as of Friday there have been 169.
According to state statistics, 60% were men and all had comorbidities such as diabetes (52%), hypertension (41%) and obesity (40%).
The highest concentration of deaths was in La Paz (48%) followed by Los Cabos (27.6%), Comondú (13.5%), Mulegé (8%) and Loreto with just 1.7%
The total number of coronavirus cases recorded in the state is 4,237. BCS has the highest per capita rate of infection in the country, at 119.62 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, Mexico City rate is 75.1 cases per 100,000.
BCS Noticias reports that the federal government is threatening to sanction states, including BCS, that are at maximum risk yet refuse to return to lockdown.
“If the federal government says you are in red and the state says it is in orange and is going to allow these other activities, the state must answer for its sovereign decisions,” coronavirus czar Hugo López-Gatell explained.
Meanwhile, despite the fact that all beaches in BCS except those in Los Cabos are closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, last weekend nearly 800 residents of La Paz thought the rules did not apply to them.
Susana Rubio Lucero, head of the Federal Terrestrial Maritime Zone of La Paz (Zofemat), said that 303 vehicles and 783 people were turned away when trying to access the beach.
Also turned away was a group of people who refused to follow sanitary protocols when entering the state this week, BCS Noticias reported.
A bus full of tourists heading south from Mulegé was detained by police at a checkpoint on the road to Santa Rosalía and forced to turn around for failing to comply with sanitary measures, Carlos Godínez of Civil Protection said. The bus had 10 more people than it could safely carry while respecting social distancing guidelines.
Photoshop fail
Comondú Mayor José Walter Valenzuela Acosta is being mocked on social media for editing images by putting coronavirus masks on the faces of people who appear in photos on his Facebook page, El Debate reports.
“This very productive Thursday in Puerto San Carlos we visited my friends, we listened to their needs, always closely with everyone in the community, of course with healthy distance and all the measures of health and hygiene,” the mayor wrote in a post accompanied by several shots from a recent visit to the fishing village.
It is obvious that light blue face masks have been digitally added, earning him the nickname #LordPhotoshop on social media.
“How embarrassing. He should just acknowledge he wasn’t wearing a mask rather than covering up his negligence in that way,” commented a user. “I don’t know what is more false, his politics or his masks,” wrote another.
Model behavior
Canadian fashion model and former America’s Top Model contestant Winnie Harlow is in Los Cabos to celebrate her 26th birthday. Harlow, who was discovered by Tyra Banks in 2014, is also a spokesperson for the skin condition vitiligo.
The model, who has posted shots of herself poolside at the Nobu Hotel in Cabo San Lucas and riding camels on the beach for her 8.1 million Instagram followers, has been featured in Glamour, Vogue Italia, Cosmopolitan and Ebony magazines, among others.
Film shot in San Ignacio dominates
The film Polvo, shot entirely in San Ignacio, has received a total of 11 nominations for the Ariel Awards, Mexico’s version of the Oscars, including best picture, best actor and actress and best original screenplay.
Directed by José María Yazpik, who also stars in the film, Polvo tells the story of a man who returns to his hometown after a decade to recover a shipment of cocaine. Yazpik, who spent his summers in San Ignacio as a child, makes the town itself a character in the social satire that has met with positive reviews. The winners will be announced on September 20.
Mulegé murders
The state Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) reported that shots were fired just after midnight on Monday in the Nueva Oaxaca neighborhood in Villa Alberto Andrés Alvarado Arámburo.
According to BCS Noticias, when authorities arrived on the scene they found three men who had been murdered in the middle of the street. The victims have not been identified.
Violence against women soars
The general director of the Women’s Institute in Los Cabos, Lorena Cortés Torralbo, reports that violence against women has increased 370% since April, when 80 cases were reported, to July which has seen 376 cases. Calls for help have been so numerous that the organization had to set up an additional hotline to meet the increased demand, BCS Noticias reports.
Free trees
To fulfill his campaign promise to plant 50,000 trees, the Mayor of La Paz is giving away 2,500 trees to residents of the capital city, BCS Noticias reports.
The giveaway will take place Fridays and Saturdays in various neighborhoods, reforestation coordinator Erick Daniel Aguilar Velázquez said. The saplings have been grown in the municipal nursery and are ready to plant. Several varieties are available including Washingtonian palms, guava trees and Royal Poinciana, known in Spanish as tabachín.
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