While the global coronavirus outbreak can leave some feeling helpless, it empowers others to do something to fight the pandemic.
Such is the case for a group of 20 or so lifelong friends, many of them lawyers, who are volunteering to clean the streets of Tijuana.
The city is considered an epicenter for the virus in Mexico, and the morbidity rate is high; some estimates place it at 15% compared to 3.5% in San Diego, only a few kilometers away.
The group of men who call themselves “Covid Busters” don masks and white or yellow sterile suits to patrol streets, parks and areas surrounding hospitals with pressure washers and bleach, doing what they can to help disinfect public spaces where people are most likely to congregate.
The decision to help their fellow 2.14 million residents came naturally, and the response they have seen is somewhat astonishing, say members, who accept donations of cleaning products and personal protective equipment through their Facebook page. The team of volunteers does not accept financial support, although they do appreciate a home-cooked meal from time to time.
“We want this to be over as soon as possible. We’re all affected by this. We’re all in the same boat,” said Sergio Alberto Carbajal Franchini, one of the Covid Busters’ volunteers and president of a Tijuana lawyers association, in an interview with a local television station.
When Tijuana’s chief of police announced he had tested positive for the virus, Covid Busters started disinfecting police cars. When it was announced that four bus drivers had died from the virus, Covid Busters started cleaning buses and bus stops as well.
Thus far, Carbajal says they have cleaned around 1,000 public vehicles, including taxis and ambulances.
Baja California currently has 1,197 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, mostly in the largest cities of Tijuana and Mexicali. The state has seen 162 deaths thus far.
Source: San Diego Red (sp)
