COVID roundup: active case numbers down, cross-border vaccination expands

An additional 13,217 coronavirus cases were added to Mexico’s accumulated tally on Wednesday while the COVID-19 death toll rose by 896.

Mexico’s pandemic totals now stand at 3.54 million cases and 269,912 deaths. There are 83,834 estimated active cases across Mexico, a 1% decrease compared to Tuesday.

Tabasco’s per capita active case rate has dropped in recent days but it still ranks first among the 32 states with about 220 active cases per 100,000 people. Colima ranks second with a rate of just over 200 followed by Mexico City, where there are more than 150 active cases per 100,000 residents.

The only other state with a per capita active case rate above 100 is Yucatán. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday that the pandemic is on the wane in all 32 states.

In other COVID-19 news:

• Almost 93.6 million million vaccine doses have been administered after more than 827,000 shots were given Tuesday. The Health Ministry said that almost 61.2 million people have received at least one shot and 39.85 million are fully vaccinated.

Mexico City has the highest vaccination rate in the country with 92% of adults having had at least one dose. Querétaro ranks second with a rate of 91%, while the other 30 states have rates of between 46% and 86%, the Health Ministry said.

• A vaccination program that is taking residents of Nuevo León into the United States to get a shot expanded on Wednesday.

Nuevo León governor-elect Samuel García, the architect of the cross-border scheme, announced that bus trips to Mission, Texas, would begin Wednesday to complement the exiting route to Laredo.

He also said that the number of manufacturing sector workers vaccinated in the program, which began in the middle of last month, was expected to reach 20,000 on Wednesday.

“As of today we’ll be vaccinating between 2,000 and 2,500 workers per day in this program,” García said, adding that employees of 226 companies have joined the scheme.

amparo vaccinations in Veracruz
A medical worker in Veracruz prepares a vaccine dose for children Wednesday morning, inoculations granted by court injunction.

Up until Wednesday, some 105,000 Nuevo León workers had requested to participate. García, who will take office in October, said that everyone has the right to get a shot and “we will find the way to vaccinate them.”

• Health authorities in Oaxaca reported 388 new cases across 88 municipalities on Tuesday. The figure is almost 300% higher than the tally for Monday.

Just over 46% of general care hospital beds in COVID wards are occupied in the southern state, according to federal data, while 43% of beds with ventilators are in use.

• Puebla and Tlaxcala have the highest occupancy rates in the country for general care beds, with just under 63% taken in each state. The only other states with rates above 60% are Nuevo León and Tabasco.

For beds with ventilators, Tabasco ranks first with a rate of 56.5% followed by Colima, where just under 56% of such beds are occupied.

With reports from El Economista and El Universal

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