Residents of Mérida and other Yucatán municipalities have been breaking the quarantine in order to shop, visit, receive donations and even go on vacation, prompting the state government to issue a new call for citizens to stay at home.

State police have also been deployed to persuade people to limit their outings to carry out essential chores and to use face masks.

The state government has insisted that now is not the time to relax the measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Yucatán had 131 confirmed cases and seven deaths from the disease as of Thursday night, according to the federal Health Ministry.

In Mérida, residents left their homes to go shopping, go to the bank, visit friends and family and even to go on vacation last weekend, prompting residents of the coastal town of Chelem to block families from the capital from entering and staying at their beach homes.

State police set up a checkpoint and only allowed residents and those who could prove they own property to enter.

Municipal police were sent to shopping centers in Mérida to enforce the safe-distance rule and hand out face masks. They were also deployed to the streets to persuade citizens to return home if they were not on urgent or essential business.

The state reiterated that although the calendar says it’s still the Easter holiday, it was no time to be taking trips. It also urged the use of face masks when in public on essential business.

Elsewhere in Yucatán, Homún residents were observed breaking quarantine to line up for donations of meat.

Local authorities initially praised the action but after the event received criticism for breaking quarantine, they backtracked and denounced the action, saying on Facebook that “we do not approve of actions that put our citizens at risk” and reiterating the call for people not to gather in groups of 10 or more.

As for the donation of meat, the authorities asked that any such charitable actions in the future be coordinated through the municipal government in order ensure that all preventative measures are followed.

Earlier in April, long lines of people not observing physical distancing measures were observed shopping in Tecoh and Kanasin and taking advantage of sales.

Sources: El Universal (sp), La Verdad (sp)