Panicked citizens in Sonora have responded to reports of increased cases of Covid-19 by flocking to certified private laboratories to be tested.
Laboratories in Hermosillo and other cities in the state reported that the crowds have exhausted their daily testing capacities in recent days.
Worried residents begin to line up in their cars around 7:00 a.m. and wait for laboratory staff to come to their windows and take the necessary samples.
Costs of coronavirus tests at private labs in the state currently range from 3,000 to 8,000 pesos (US $135-$360).
The laboratory overload is a response to recent reports from the federal and state Health Ministries that rates of both confirmed cases and deaths from the disease are on the rise.
The most recent data released by the Sonora Health Ministry reveal that there are 1,809 confirmed cases and 139 people have died from Covid-19 in the state.
Federal Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell announced that the transmission curve in Hermosillo is expected to peak on June 4, meaning the city will see elevated rates of cases and deaths for months afterward.
“My message is this: if we don’t reduce mobility, we’re not going to have a reduction in infections. The technical report the mathematicians shared with us shows that in the case of Hermosillo, the acme of the epidemic curve will occur on June 4 and the epidemic there will propagate until the first week of August,” said López-Gatell.
Source: El Universal (sp)
