The vast majority of Mexico’s 32 states could switch to green light “low” risk on the federal government’s coronavirus “stoplight” map by the end of October, according to Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell.

The coronavirus czar said that some mathematical projections suggest that half of the states will be in a position to turn green in the first half of next month.

The coronavirus infection risk will likely be reduced to “low” in most of the other 16 states in the second half of October, López-Gatell said.

However, two or three states likely won’t reach the green light risk level until November, the deputy minister said without specifying which ones.

López-Gatell stressed that there are no guarantees and as a result urged citizens not to expect an en masse switch to green next month. He also asserted that no pacts have been made under which the government has agreed to downgrade the risk level allocated to each of the states.

“It’s not about pacts, it’s about evidence. When we have a green stoplight it will mean that the epidemic risk indicators have gone down,” López-Gatell said.

None of Mexico’s states is currently at the green light risk level but 10 are just one notch above, nine of which switched to yellow at the start of this week. There are 21 orange light “high” risk states and just one at red light “maximum” risk – Colima.

Each risk level is accompanied by recommended coronavirus restrictions but some states have opted to ignore the federal government’s advice and instead reopen their economies according to their own guidelines.

López-Gatell, whose management on the pandemic response has been criticized by some governors, said that once states reach the green light level they will be able to reopen schools.

Most students are currently attending virtual classes broadcast on television or streamed over the internet.

Source: Expansión Política (sp), Reforma (sp), Xataka (sp)