Hidalgo’s health minister has warned that the state’s hospitals could be overwhelmed if residents continue to flout stay-at-home orders and other measures to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Alejandro Efraín Benítez Herrera said that if residents fail to understand that avoiding a large increase in coronavirus cases numbers is contingent on them staying at home, practicing social distancing and maintaining good hygiene, the state’s health system “will collapse.”
He said that Hidalgo could see about 3,500 Covid-19 cases if people continue to ignore recommendations in large numbers and that as many as half that number could require hospitalization. If that were to occur, there won’t be enough beds in the state’s hospitals to accommodate all the coronavirus patients, Benítez said.
Hidalgo had recorded 603 cases – 214 of which are considered active – and 102 deaths as of Tuesday.
State government secretary Simón Vargas Aguilar said that some Hidalgo residents believe that Covid-19 is an “invention” and refuse to follow the recommendations to avoid getting sick or infecting others.
The state capital, Pachuca, has been identified as one of several cities in Mexico where a large number of people have not changed their mobility habits to limit the coronavirus spread, he said.
In Ixmiquilpan, a small city 75 kilometers northwest of Pachuca, the traditional tianguis, or outdoor market, has been set up every Monday during the health emergency period, attracting some 1,000 vendors as well as large numbers of shoppers.
Some market-goers and vendors wear face masks but other health recommendations, such as maintaining a 1.5-meter distance from others, are not widely observed, the newspaper La Jornada reported. Street markets have also continued to operate in the towns of Huejutla and Huautla.
To reduce residents’ movement around cities and towns, the Hidalgo government is seeking assistance from the authorities in the state’s 84 different municipalities, and reached an agreement to that end on Monday.
Source: La Jornada (sp)
