Deputy health minister defends vacation in Oaxaca beach destination

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January 5, 2021

López-Gatell at a beachfront restaurant in Zipolite.

Amid heavy criticism, Mexico’s coronavirus czar on Monday defended his decision to travel to the coast of Oaxaca for New Year’s even though in doing so he ignored his own “stay at home” advice.

Questioned about his trip at the Health Ministry’s nightly coronavirus press briefing after photos of him at a restaurant in the beach town of Zipolite went viral, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell declared that he had “nothing to hide.”

“I went to the coast of Oaxaca, … I went to visit very close relatives, very good friends, and we were in a private home during the days at the end of the year. A very important thing is to emphasize the importance of … conserving very small family groups … and following the different [virus] prevention measures at the time of the different social activities,” he said.

“We had a reunion to mark the end of the year and we paid attention to these … [prevention measures] and we hope that the vast majority of people did.”

Acknowledging his visit to a Zipolite restaurant – where he was photographed not wearing a face mask while seated at a table with an unidentified woman – the deputy minister pointed out that there are not restrictions on people’s movement in Mexico, as is the case in some countries, adding that the coronavirus risk level in Oaxaca is not red light “maximum,” as is the case in Mexico City, México state and three other states.

“I was at a restaurant at a beach in Zipolite eating with the family. Here in the Valley of México we have the reality that Mexico City and México state declared themselves to be at the red stoplight level but not there,” López-Gatell said, referring to the fact that Oaxaca is currently “high” risk orange on the stoplight map.

“… The [coronavirus] realities are not the same across the country,” he added.

Citing federal midterm and state elections that will be held later this year, López-Gatell, a Johns Hopkins University-trained epidemiologist, claimed that some of the criticism of his conduct was politically motivated.

“In the electoral context, it’s clear that different political forces want to benefit, they want to create demons and create enemies to position themselves,” he said.

The coronavirus point man, who has faced criticism for his management of the pandemic for months, came under fire after the Zipolite restaurant photos, as well as an image of him with his face mask below his chin while boarding a flight to Huatulco, circulated online.

Many social media users expressed anger that López-Gatell – who the day before his trip urged his Twitter follows to please #stayathome to stop the spread of the virus – chose to travel at a time when Mexico’s health system and medical personnel are under intense pressure due to a sharp recent increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.

The deputy minister answers reporters' questions about his vacation Monday in Mexico City. — The deputy minister answers reporters’ questions about his vacation Monday in Mexico City.

“When thousands of doctors haven’t seen their families in Mexico or have died. When tens of thousands of health professionals can’t dream about going on vacation. When IMSS [the Mexican Social Security Institute] canceled vacations … to have personnel to combat Covid… A photo [of López-Gatell on holiday] emerges … #Shame,,” Xavier Tello, a Mexico City-based health policy analyst, wrote on Twitter.

“What Hugo López-Gatell will never understand is that what he did was not ‘to go to Huatulco with his family.’ What he did was: to disparage thousands of doctors who risk their lives; demonstrate that he doesn’t care about lives lost; [and] show that he is above everyone and everything,” Tello wrote in another tweet, adding that the deputy minister had shown himself to be completely unprofessional.

Alejandro Hope, a prominent security analyst, wrote on Twitter that the “cynicism” behind López-Gatell’s defense of his trip to Oaxaca and gathering with his family and friends was “mind-boggling.”

“The rules were (are): 1) Except for an essential reason, stay at home and 2) Don’t meet with people with whom you don’t live. Which part didn’t he understand?”

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum also indirectly criticized the pandemic point man, saying that she and her team couldn’t afford to take a break while the coronavirus rages in the capital.

For his part, President López Obrador said that López-Gatell has been working very hard – he fronted hundreds of press conferences last year – and has the right to take a break.

However, many ordinary Mexicans pointed out the deputy minister’s hypocrisy in flouting the government’s own virus guidelines, and some called for him to step down.

“Hugo López-Gatell, it’s better that you resign like the minister in Canada and the minister in New Zealand. You and the useless López Obrador should be the first [people] to set an example of ‘stay at home.’ [Mexico is in] first place for [its] fatality rate, you’re both an embarrassment,” said Twitter user Cristina Garza.

Rod Phillips resigned as finance minister of Ontario over a trip he took to the Caribbean island of St. Barts at a time when the Canadian province was under lockdown orders, while David Clark left his position as New Zealand health minister last July after breaking the national quarantine to visit a beach with his family.

López-Gatell has previously faced calls for him to resign, including one from nine state governors who charged in July that his strategy to combat the pandemic had failed. Responding to earlier calls from opposition party lawmakers for him to step down, the deputy minister said he was committed to Mexico and wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“This is not about playing politics, it is about saving lives and protecting people,” he said July 24, the day Mexico’s official Covid-19 death toll rose to 42,645.

Just over five months later, Covid-19 fatalities now number triple that figure, rising to 127,757 on Monday with 544 additional deaths registered by health authorities. Mexico’s accumulated tally of confirmed cases is 1.45 million after 6,464 new cases were reported Monday night.

Source: El Universal (sp), CNN (en), Infobae (sp)

‘We don’t want to see you here:’ doctors plead with public to remain at home

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MND Staff

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January 5, 2021

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Doctors and nurses used a video to send a message to the public.

“There are few ventilators, intensive care is at its limit, we don’t want to see you here.”

That’s part of a message from doctors and nurses at two Mexico City hospitals who appeared in a video urging people to stay at home to do their bit to stop the transmission of the coronavirus.

The capital, which has recorded almost 340,000 confirmed cases and more than 22,000 Covid-19 deaths, has been Mexico’s coronavirus epicenter since the beginning of the pandemic.

After working for almost a year to treat patients seriously ill with Covid-19, health workers in the capital – and across the country – are both exhausted and traumatized by their pandemic experience, prompting personnel from Mexico City’s IMSS San Juan de Aragón and Tlatelolco general hospitals to make a renewed call for people not to go out.

“Stay at home, stay at home, stay at home,” workers said in unison in the video. “Save our lives, yours and those of others.”

One of more than 6,300 Covid patients in Mexico City hospitals.

“We’re very tired, we’ve been combatting the coronavirus for 10 months and we don’t see the end of the tunnel. Covid-19 is not a joke, it’s a terrible disease that leads many people to death,” said one female health worker.

“What we’re going through here inside [the hospital] is a painful and cruel war,” said one male employee, while another remarked: “I never thought about living and seeing [such] scenes of terror inside my workplace.”

Another IMSS health worker dressed in full personal protective equipment stares down the barrel of the camera and declares: “Our hospitals are full, there are no more beds.”

Indeed, a Mexico City government report published Monday showed that there are only two general care hospital beds available for coronavirus patients at IMSS hospitals in the capital.

Occupancy across the health system in the capital – where more than 6,300 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized – is 86% for general care beds and 81% for beds with ventilators, according to federal data. Twenty-eight Mexico City hospitals are currently at 100% capacity for general care beds, while 12 others are at 90% capacity or higher.

In addition, there was a record number of Covid-related calls to the 911 emergency number in Mexico City on Sunday, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday.

“There were 560 [calls] yesterday,” she said, adding that 204 resulted in ambulances being sent to people’s homes and that 51 people were transported to hospitals.

Mexico City, currently “maximum” risk red on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map, is amidst its worst virus outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic.

A vaccination program is underway in the capital and some other parts of the country but it will be at least several more months – and likely tens of thousands of more deaths – before the country begins to see the light at the end of the dark pandemic tunnel so craved by health workers and the broader citizenry.

To date, 43,960 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been administered, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday morning, highlighting that Mexico ranks 13th in terms of the number of people who have been inoculated against Covid-19.

“The vaccination program began on December 24, we were among the first 1o countries in the world to start vaccinating and the first in Latin America and at this moment we are number 13 in terms of the number of vaccines [administered] … We’re first in Latin America,” he said.

“We have the expectation that we’ll receive more than 53,000 vaccines today,” López-Gatell said, adding that 436,000 doses are scheduled to arrive starting next week.

“Later another two or three vaccines will be incorporated into the repertoire for the objective of a universal and free vaccination program prioritized according to the risk groups.”

The government presented a multi-stage national vaccination plan last month that prioritizes the early inoculation of health workers and the elderly.

López-Gatell announced Monday that the health regulatory agency Cofepris had approved the AstraZeneca/Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine, of which the government has agreed to purchase 77.4 million doses. He said that immunization with that vaccine, which is cheaper than that made by Pfizer and can be transported and stored at regular fridge temperatures, could begin in March.

According to data presented by the deputy minister at President López Obrador’s Tuesday press conference, the United States ranks first for the number of Covid-19 vaccines administered followed by China and Israel. Israel leads on a per capita basis, with 13.5% of the population already having received a shot.

By contrast, only 0.03% of Mexico’s population of approximately 128 million people have received a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

Source: Reforma (sp), El Financiero (sp), Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)

El Golfo de Santa Clara and the seaside gold rush

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Omar Vidal

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January 5, 2021

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A vaquita porpoise trapped in a fishermen's net. omar vidal

There is no other place on planet Earth where pelicans carry a flashlight embedded in their foreheads and fly low to brighten the nights of the fishermen that get up before the sun rises to retrieve their nets and check their fishhooks.

You probably don’t believe it, but it is said that the light comes from bioluminescent algae, dinoflagellates, that cling to their feathers after they have dived for fish in the sea. My compadre, a fisherman in El Golfo de Santa Clara, Sonora, in northwestern Mexico told me precisely that, and I have no doubt whatsoever it is true.

And there is no other place on planet Earth where a fish queen emerges from the sea, stops breathing for several minutes, hikes a half meter across the beach as the high tide withdraws, and then buries herself in sand to lay eggs.

You probably don’t believe this either. My professor, an ichthyologist from Tucson, Arizona, told me exactly that, and I also believe him. Up to 10 males curl around those females, ejecting their spermatozoa to ensure fertilization.

The fish is called a grunion, or pejerrey (“fish king”) in Spanish, one of only two fishes in the world that jump out of the water to pursue this exotic reproductive ritual, the other one being its cousin, another grunion that only lives in California, that huge expanse of golden coast that was once Mexican land, but it is now American.

In El Golfo de Santa Clara grunion engage in a furious two-hour beach bacchanal, the teeming festivity reaching more than 350 fish per square meter. It occurs just after the full and new moons, from January to March, year after year since the dawn of time.

Thousands of birds of more than 30 species go crazy as part of a bean feast of royal fish and eggs – gulls, double-crested cormorants, terns, pelicans, and sandpipers that rely on the grunion’s wildness and successful sand-beach reproductive performance.

El Golfo de Santa Clara is the most important place in Mexico where spring migrating shorebirds replenish their energy before flying back north.

It is the same place where I met El Pipilo, El Peludo, and many other fishermen. Where my compadre El Chiruli and my godson Macario were born, both of whom I have neglected but haven’t forgotten. A place where, many years ago, El Wafles, El Charly and many other enthusiastic students who lacked nicknames were initiated into the strange business of searching for scientific knowledge.

It is a unique, warm and humid armpit in the Sonoran Desert, between the Baja Peninsula and “mainland” Mexico where the mighty Colorado River once drained snowmelt waters from the Rocky Mountains, the river whose mouth was dried by the damned dams in the United States. The same river that, 173 years ago, flowed through almost half of Mexico – Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California – until our northern neighbor seized it in 1848.

The U.S. had already grabbed from Mexico the whole of New Mexico and parts of Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma — a total of 2 million square kilometers which were added to Louisiana, which was purchased from Napoleon, and Florida whose property rights were ceded by Spain.

A totoaba, above, and a vaquita. Both are endangered species. omar vidal

The upper Gulf of California is a land of marshes, bays, beaches, estuaries, dunes and a dying delta embedded in a yellow desert, a vermillion sea, and the blue skies of the Biosphere Reserve of the Upper Gulf of California and the Colorado River Delta. It is part of the islands and protected areas of the Mar de Cortés, one of the astounding 53 world heritage sites that UNESCO considers as being in great danger.

There are enchanting stretches of land baptized in honor of saints — El Golfo de Santa Clara and San Felipe — in a region first explored by Europeans 340 years ago, by the soon-to-be canonized Father Eusebio Kino.

The two fishing villages, initiated by fearless adventure seekers, have survived 90 years of solitude and a mayhem of recurring seaside gold rushes, periodic episodes of legal and illegal fishing of totoaba, sharks and rays, shrimp, corvina, croaker, sierras, and sea cucumbers, all of which were responsible for the birth, flourishing, and then near collapse of El Golfo de Santa Clara, now home to 4,000 Mexicans.

Today, the upper Gulf of California and its inhabitants are haunted by poverty and the despair born of decades of governmental neglect and mismanagement, the lack of economic opportunities and the rampant corruption that have fed the overexploitation of their rich natural resources and destroyed their livelihoods. It is a crisis that has decimated its unique biological diversity and brought many endemic species to the brink of extinction.

Among them is Ridgway’s rail (Yuma), a bird that nests in the no-longer-lush delta marshes. And the desert pupfish, that lives in hot water (reaching 38-46 C) similar to the waters where his Chihuahuan cousin and the world’s champion of spa life, the Julimes pupfish, leads a happy life. And the vaquita, a porpoise that has transmuted into the elf that local inhabitants have long viewed as a fairy-tale creature; one that is no longer seen at all.

The upper Gulf of California has become a lawless confluence of land and sea where the ultimate gold rush – drug trafficking – has arrived to become the last nail in the coffin of this uncommon region.

Many Mexican and American biologists and conservationists have passed through El Golfo de Santa Clara over the last half a century. All of them brought something, and all of them took a great deal away with them.

Some lost their minds longing for that other dangerous gold rush: the quest for knowledge. To all I warmly dedicate these first lines of 2021.

Omar Vidal, a scientist, was a university professor in Mexico, is a former senior officer at the UN Environment Program, and former director-general of the World Wildlife Fund–Mexico.

Trash collectors raise concerns about handling Covid-infected waste

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Michelle Aguilar

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January 5, 2021

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Trash collectors in Mexico City are raising concerns that they are at risk of contracting Covid-19 from garbage contaminated with the virus by victims who are being treated at home.

The workers say they are dealing daily with more trash such as masks, syringes, sanitizing wipes and other waste that are potentially infected with the Covid-19 virus, which are mixed with other home trash.

“Generally, no one is alerting us that they have Covid patients in the house, and everything in the garbage is mixed together,” a collector who preferred to remain anonymous told the newspaper Excélsior. “We were told that people were going to be given red bags so that we would know not to open them, but those never happened … There have been no controls on this.”

In a report on October 27, the Mexico City government reported that the agency in charge of trash collection and waste management (Sobse), which is responsible for the movement of 12,500 tonnes of garbage per day, has recorded 41 collectors infected with Covid and 24 who have died from it.

Alethia Vázquez Morillas, a researcher with the Metropolitan Autonomous University who studied the issue in the fall, suggests that trash collectors be among the first people to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

Vázquez conducted interviews with trash collectors in México state and discovered that few are wearing protective gear like goggles, mouth coverings or masks while working even though the SARS-CoV-2 virus can survive for 72 hours.

The virus can potentially remain not just on medical-related trash like face masks and gloves but also on paper and plastic goods like toilet paper and disposable cutlery and plates. Any of these items containing the virus pose a risk to people handling them in that 72-hour window, she said.

The federal environment ministry and Sobse officials have not done enough to alert the public to the need to separate garbage contaminated with Covid, Vázquez believes.

“Although the environment ministry and Mexico City’s waste management agency have created flyers and done publicity on social media to train workers, I don’t think that there has been sufficient education of the public so that everyone has clarity on what is expected of them,” she said.

In June, Efraín Morales, director of Mexico City’s urban services and sustainability agency, reported that the federal government and Sobse had created a protocol for the management of potentially infectious waste from homes. However, that protocol has yet to be made public.

Vázquez says that a sufficient way to keep trash workers safe would be for people in homes with a Covid patient to separate and double-bag any Covid-infected trash, spray the bag with sanitizer and leave it three days in storage before putting it out for collection.

Source: Excélsior (sp)

Interjet’s planes will remain on the ground till January 31

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MND Staff

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January 5, 2021

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The beleaguered airline Interjet has announced the cancelation of all its flights in January, attributing the decision to the coronavirus pandemic.

The budget carrier, which has a 2.5-billion-peso (US $125.7-million) tax debt, said in a statement that the pandemic has deepened the crisis it faces and forced it to cancel flights. Interjet also canceled many flights in November and December because it had no money to purchase fuel.

The aviation news website A21 reported that the next Interjet flights are scheduled for the first days of February. But sources close to the airline said in December that Interjet may never resume operations.

The carrier’s financial problems have affected both passengers, who have been left stranded due to flight cancellations, and employees, who are owed up to three months’ worth of salary payments and benefits.

Some workers said on December 31 that they received one of six fortnightly payments they are owed but others said they got nothing.

Interjet faced a slew of problems last year that a change of ownership failed to remedy. Among them: the repossession of many of its leased aircraft, legal claims filed by ex-employees over unpaid severance pay and severe cash flow problems.

Meanwhile, Interjet Vacations, the airline’s legally unaffiliated travel agency division, announced Monday that it filed for bankruptcy last month.

Source: A21 (sp)

Covid vaccinations have produced 110 allergic reactions

By

MND Staff

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January 5, 2021

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covid vaccination — More than 44,000 people had been vaccinated as of Tuesday morning.

About 110 people in Mexico have had an allergic reaction to the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, a federal health official said Monday.

Ruy López Ridaura, director of the Health Ministry’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control Programs, said that 80% of the allergic reactions have been mild and that only five people needed hospitalization, four of whom were discharged in a matter of hours.

Mexico began vaccinating health workers on December 24 and by Tuesday morning more than 44,000 had received their first shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

López Ridaura noted that Karla Cecilia Pérez Osorio – a 32-year-old doctor in Monclova, Coahuila – had a severe allergic reaction after receiving the vaccine on December 30 and required treatment in intensive care. The case is under investigation, he said.

At the same coronavirus press briefing, Mexican Social Security Institute official Víctor Hugo Borja said that Pérez, who contracted Covid-19 in April, suffered convulsions and suspected encephalomyelitis – inflammation of the brain and spinal cord – after receiving a dose of the Covid vaccine.

She was transferred to a specialty hospital in Monterrey, Nuevo León, and has gradually recovered.

Pérez is no longer suffering convulsions, Borja said, adding that her muscle strength has improved and that she’s “awake, conscious and well-oriented.”

He said that all health workers who have received the vaccine have subsequently been observed for 20 to 30 minutes, explaining that in the case of Pérez,“we detected an adverse effect … [and she] reported that she was allergic to sulfa drugs and has a family history of allergies.”

“Twenty minutes after vaccination she developed an allergic reaction characterized by swelling of the tongue and lips and a rash on her neck and chest. … A doctor administered a medication that immediately allowed her to recover from these symptoms,” Borja said.

However, 1 1/2 hours after Pérez was vaccinated she suffered a convulsion and was treated at her workplace, a hospital in Monclova. She was transferred to the Monterrey hospital on December 31 and suffered more convulsions on January 1 before undergoing a blood plasma treatment known as plasmapheresis.

“What is done is the liquid part of the blood is extracted … and [virus] antibodies are removed and this reduces the [allergic] reaction that was possibly caused by the antibodies,” Borja said.

“The diagnosis at that time was an allergic reaction to the vaccine, that’s confirmed. … What isn’t confirmed is the [cause of the] other reaction that caused the convulsions and reduction of muscle strength, … that’s what is still being studied.”

Borja added that all vaccines have the potential to cause adverse reactions, explaining that in rare cases the effects can be serious.

Adverse reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have also been reported in other countries that have begun administering it.

Mexico has a deal to buy 34.4 million doses of the product, which was 95% effective in phase 3 trials and caused no serious safety concerns, according to Pfizer. The health regulatory agency Cofepris gave emergency approval for the vaccine last month.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell announced Monday that Cofepris had also approved the AstraZeneca/Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine, of which the government has agreed to purchase 77.4 million doses. He said that immunization with that vaccine, which is cheaper than that made by Pfizer and can be transported and stored at regular fridge temperatures, could begin in March.

The government presented a multi-stage national vaccination plan last month that prioritizes the early inoculation of health workers and the elderly.

Government officials and many ordinary citizens in Mexico are eagerly awaiting the wider rollout of vaccines as the country has been affected more than most by the coronavirus pandemic.

Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows that Mexico currently ranks 13th for confirmed cases, with 1.45 million as of Monday, and fourth for Covid-19 fatalities with an official death toll of 127,757.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Party time: New Year’s celebrations carry on despite coronavirus

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Michelle Aguilar

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January 5, 2021

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Party on: coronavirus was not a worry at this beach party in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.

Rising Covid case numbers and bans against large gatherings in several states didn’t stop the partying New Year’s weekend at various tourism destinations throughout Mexico.

In some cases they were staged with the implicit go-ahead or outright patronage of government officials.

Parties, concerts, and other large public events rang in the new year in Veracruz, Quintana Roo, Jalisco, Nayarit and Oaxaca. Many of the events came to light after attendees and organizers posted photos and videos of the events online.

In Veracruz, despite eight cities being on maximum Covid alert and a statewide ban on large gatherings since December 6, organizers in Catemaco held a large dance party Saturday night at a baseball stadium over 1,000 reportedly in attendance. Videos posted on social media made it clear that little mask wearing or social distancing practices were being observed.

The event appeared to have been organized by, among others, Veracruz politicians. State Congress president Juan Javier Gómez Casarín posted videos of the event on his social media account, as did an ex-mayoral candidate.

Two other similar events also happened not far from Catemaco, including a concert and a party in the municipalities of Tlalixcoyan and Alvarado.

In Puerto Vallarta, Bahía de Banderas and Nuevo Vallarta, a three-day “White Party New Year’s Weekend” on December 30–January 3 attracted large gatherings at various points in the three locales. A video posted online reportedly of the Nuevo Vallarta event showed attendees at a beach party with little regard for social distance measures or the wearing of masks.

The sister event in Bahía de Banderas was organized with the implicit permission of authorities, who allegedly told a reporter off the record that despite the large numbers, officials were only keeping an eye on the event to make sure sanitary measures were being followed.

In Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, an event at La Piedra de la Iguana, a private club on Zicatela Beach, got a lot of attention thanks to the bar itself posting photos online of the electronic music party, in which attendees could be seen neither wearing masks nor observing safe social distances and the bar could be seen selling alcoholic beverages, all in violation of state law.

In Quintana Roo, thousands of people could be seen congregating in streets outside the nightclubs and bars of Cancún and Playa del Carmen despite Governor Carlos Joaquín González having announced a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people on December 16.

Sources: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp), Infobae (sp)

Remittances continue breaking records: November total up 16%, year to date 11%

By

MND Staff

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January 5, 2021

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Remittances sent home by Mexicans working abroad increased 15.6% in November to US $3.38 billion, pushing the total for the first 11 months of 2020 to a record high of $36.95 billion, central bank data shows.

The amount sent to Mexico between January and November was 10.9% higher than total remittances received in the first 11 months of 2019. The January-November total exceeds that for all of 2019, during which a then-record high of just over $36 billion in remittances flowed into the country.

The payments reached record high levels in several months last year despite the heavy toll the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions took on the economy and employment in the United States, home to the vast majority of Mexicans working abroad.

Analysts cited a range of factors for the increase in November and other months of last year.

Goldman Sachs chief Latin America economist Alberto Ramos said that generous economic support in the United States amid the pandemic, a “very competitive” dollar-peso exchange rate and a “deep contraction” of the economy and employment in Mexico may have acted as driving forces for Mexicans abroad to send more money home.

Remittance totals for the first 11 months of each year since 2010, in billions of US dollars. el financiero

Juan José Li Ng, senior economist with the bank BBVA, said that lockdown orders and restrictions on movement across the Mexico-United States border were a factor, explaining that many Mexican migrants sent money home electronically instead of delivering it directly to family members in cash.

He agreed that economic stimulus in the United States and a favorable exchange rate were also factors.

The chief of economic statistics at the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies, an association whose members are the region’s central banks, pointed to a recent employment recovery for Mexican workers in the United States.

“From May to November 2020, the level of employment of Mexican immigrants increased … by 1.13 million, 20.1% higher in relation to the level observed in April 2020,” Jesús Cervantes said.

Goldman Sachs’ Ramos said the strong remittances flows have helped boost both Mexico’s current account and private consumption, especially by members of low-income families, who are the primary recipients of money sent from abroad and tend to spend all or most of what they receive.

Alejandro Saldaña, chief economist at the financial company Ve Por Más, said that total remittances in 2020 may have exceeded $40 billion – the Bank of México will publish December data next month – and predicted that levels will remain high this year.

“It’s a positive element for some Mexican households that benefit from this additional income,” he said.

Marco Arias, an economic analyst at the Monex financial group, said the predicted $40 billion in remittances last year would represent 3.8% of Mexico’s GDP.

“We estimate that remittances in December amounted to $3.61 billion, with which the accumulated amount would go past $40 billion. This figure would mean a participation of 3.8% in the gross domestic product, which … [would be] a significant change given that their contribution is usually less than 3%,” he said.

Arias predicted that remittances would reach $43.5 billion in 2021, an increase of about 8% over last year’s projected total.

Li Ng agreed that total remittances in 2020 could represent 3.8% of GDP, which he said would be a record high and 0.9% above the 2019 level.

The BBVA economist noted in a report that about 12 million Mexican migrants live in the United States, and that 6.6 million of them have either U.S. citizenship or permanent residency.

Many of the remainder crossed into the United States without passing through official migration checkpoints. Such migrants commonly work in low-paid, cash-in-hand jobs but nevertheless send a significant portion of their salary home using money transfer services such as Western Union.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

At 8.8 per 100 cases, Mexico leads in Covid fatality rate among most affected countries

By

MND Staff

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January 4, 2021

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Limited testing has contributed to a high fatality rate in Mexico.

Yemen is the only country in the world with a higher Covid-19 case fatality rate than Mexico, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

With just under 1.45 million confirmed cases and an official death toll of 127,213 as of Sunday, Mexico’s fatality rate is currently 8.8 per 100 cases. Yemen, which has officially recorded 2,101 cases and 610 deaths, has a fatality rate of 29, according to data published by the university’s Coronavirus Resource Center.

The rate in Mexico, which ranks 13th in the world for coronavirus cases and fourth for deaths, is more than five times higher than that of the United States, which ranks first for both total cases and deaths. It is more than three times higher than the rate in Brazil, which ranks third for cases and second for fatalities, and over six times higher than that of India, which ranks second for cases and third for deaths.

A range of factors, including the high prevalence of chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes and the failure by many people who are ill with Covid-19 to seek timely medical care, undoubtedly contribute to the high fatality in Mexico but the main cause is almost certainly the low testing rate.

Mexico has only performed about 28,000 tests per 1 million residents, according to data published by German statistics portal Statista, a figure much lower than most other countries.

Coronavirus cases by state as of Sunday night. milenio

The United Kingdom, for example, has performed more than 800,000 tests per 1 million inhabitants, while the United States has tested almost 780,000 of every 1 million residents. Many Latin America countries, including Chile, Peru, Colombia and Brazil, are testing far more people on a per-capita basis than Mexico.

“Mexico is one of the countries [which has performed] the least number of tests,” Rodolfo de la Torre, director of social development at the Espinosa Yglesias think tank, told the newspaper El Universal.

“Although the government has insisted on saying that [testing] has no major relevance, it can have an influence on the fatality rate,” he said.

Alejandro Macías, an infectious disease doctor, a member of the National Autonomous University’s coronavirus commission and the federal government’s point man during the swine flu pandemic in 2009, criticized the government for not testing more widely and not advocating strongly enough for face masks.

“When it recommended masks there were always buts,” he told El Universal.

As for testing, the government has deemed the practice “useless and costly,” a position for which it has been widely criticized.

While the fatality rate can be interpreted as a damning assessment of the government’s management of the pandemic, Mexico has fared somewhat better in terms of its mortality rate, a point President López Obrador and other officials have been at pains to emphasize at different times during the almost year-long coronavirus crisis.

With 100.8 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 residents, Mexico currently has the 17th highest mortality rate in the world behind countries including Belgium, Italy, Peru, the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States.

Unlike some countries, Mexico never saw a sustained reduction in case numbers and Covid-19 deaths, consistently recording thousands of the former and hundreds of the latter on a daily basis.

More than 12,000 cases were recorded on each of the final three days of 2020 and more than 11,000 were registered on New Year’s Day. The daily case rate dropped to 6,359 on Saturday and 5,211 on Sunday but those figures are likely reflective of a decline in testing over the weekend rather than a reduction in the virus threat.

Hospital occupancy levels remain a concern in Mexico City and México state, where 85% and 81% of general care beds are in use, respectively, according to federal data. Occupancy rates in each of Guanajuato, Hidalgo and Nuevo León are above 70%.

In Querétaro, where 56% of general care beds are occupied across the health system, some hospitals are completely full, the state government said. Querétaro health authorities warned that coronavirus patients may have to travel hundreds of kilometers to find a hospital bed if facilities closer to their place of residence are already full.

Family members grieve the death of a victim of the coronavirus.

There are currently just under 2,000 active cases in the Bajío region state, according to federal Health Ministry estimates. Currently “high” risk orange on the coronavirus stoplight map, Querétaro has recorded just under 33,000 confirmed cases and 1,973 Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Guerrero government has decided to return Acapulco, Zihuatanejo and Chilpancingo to the orange light risk level after they turned yellow light “medium” risk for two weeks over the Christmas-New Year holiday period, a switch that allowed hotels, restaurants and other establishments to increase their maximum permitted capacities.

Governor Héctor Astudillo announced Sunday that the three municipalities would come back into line with the rest of the state – which has been orange since September – and as result capacity levels were to be reduced on Monday. Despite the easing of restrictions in the state capital and Guerrero’s two most popular tourism destinations, visitor numbers were not as high as expected, the governor said.

Astudillo said that coronavirus numbers remained stable in the state (it currently has an estimated 736 active cases) but added that the impact of the influx of 193,000 tourists over the vacation period will be seen in the coming days. Photos show visitors to popular beaches in Acapulco failing to observe social distancing recommendations and other measures to avoid transmission of the coronavirus.

The Pacific coast resort city has recorded more confirmed coronavirus cases and Covid-19 deaths than any other municipality in Guerrero.

The southern state, one of Mexico’s poorest, has recorded just over 26,000 cases since the start of the pandemic, the 20th highest tally among the 32 states, as well as 2,622 fatalities attributable to the infectious disease. The fatality rate there is 10.1 per 100 cases, 15% higher than the national rate.

Mexico News Daily

What goes on top of nachos? Just about anything your heart desires!

By

Janet Blaser

-

January 4, 2021

0

Topped with chocolate and fresh fruit, nachos make an appealing dessert.

They say necessity is often the mother of invention. In the case of nachos, that certainly seems to be the case.

I’d never thought about nachos being “invented,” but indeed they appeared in public for the first time in 1940 at a hotel restaurant in Piedras Negras, Coahuila. Requested by a regular patron for a “different” snack, maître d’ Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya went into the kitchen, looked around and threw together three simple ingredients — freshly made corn totopos (tortilla chips), Colby cheese and pickled jalapeños. He heated it in the broiler, and voila! History was made.

Nachos have become the town’s claim to fame. Since 1995, the International Nacho Festival is celebrated annually in October. While the original Nacho has passed away, his family proudly keeps his name and fame alive and is actively involved in the festival.

Why did Nacho’s original recipe use Colby cheese? Apparently, it was given out at food banks by the U.S. government during and after World War II, when many were struggling. Piedras Negras is just across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, and families routinely shared products from both sides. In fact, Colby cheese was called queso relief.

While the original nachos recipe has just those three ingredients, the tortilla chip base lends itself to a host of other ingredients: pulled pork, camarones (shrimp), barbecue chicken, arrachera (flank steak) or leftover chili all work on top of the chips, topped with any kind of cheese. Poutine nachos include cheese curds and gravy; Hawaiian nachos feature fresh pineapple chunks and kalua pork. Feeling adventurous? Use thick-cut potato chips instead.

To make nachos, start with the basics: buy your favorite chips or easily make your own at home with leftover corn tortillas cut into triangles. Spread them on a cookie sheet and then spray or drizzle them with a little oil. Sprinkle on some salt, if you want, and then bake at 350 F for 15–20 minutes. You don’t even have to turn them. But watch those last five minutes carefully so that they don’t get too dark.

Go Mediterranean with this Greek take on the classic nachos spread.

Greek Nachos

Think Greek salad without the lettuce!

Start with corn chips, then add tomato wedges, cucumber chunks, Greek olives, finely sliced onion and crumbled feta cheese.
Sprinkle with oregano, fresh mint and a drizzle of olive oil.

Enjoy at room temperature or heat at 350 F for 5-10 minutes till the cheese melts a bit and the chips warm.

Breakfast Nachos

2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 onion, diced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
1 bag (6 oz.) baby spinach
Juice of 2 limes or 1 lemon
7 oz. corn tortilla chips
8 oz. Chihuahua or mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated
4 eggs
10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Heat a sauté pan over medium heat until hot. Add 1 Tbsp. oil, garlic and onion. Cook until translucent. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add lime or lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir.

Arrange chips in a cast-iron skillet or baking sheet; cover with half the cooked spinach mixture.

Layer cheese over vegetables, then spread remaining vegetables over the cheese. Make four wells, equal distance apart, in the vegetable mixture. Crack an egg into each well. In a small bowl, toss cherry tomatoes in the remaining oil; season with salt and pepper. Distribute tomatoes around the edge of skillet or pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until egg whites have firmed up.

With some creativity, nachos dress up nice as a party platter.

Strawberry Chocolate Dessert Nachos

Six 8-inch flour tortillas
7 Tbsp. butter, melted, divided
6 Tbsp. sugar, divided
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup grated piloncillo or brown sugar
3 Tbsp. chocolate chips, chopped
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup pecans, chopped fine
½ cup sliced strawberries
Optional: whipped cream

Brush both sides of tortillas with 4 Tbsp. butter. Combine 2 Tbsp. sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over one side of each tortilla.

Stack tortillas, sugared side up. Cut into 12 wedges. Arrange in a single layer on baking sheets.

Bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes or until crisp.

Meanwhile, in heavy saucepan, combine cream, piloncillo or brown sugar and remaining butter and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla. Cool.

Arrange half the tortilla wedges on a large serving platter. Drizzle with half the chocolate sauce; sprinkle with half the pecans and strawberries. Repeat layers.

Top with whipped cream.

Use sliced sweet potatoes, not tortilla chips, for a different nachos dish.

Sweet Potato Nachos

1 medium sweet potato, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds
1½ Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
½ cup shredded Chihuahua or cheddar cheese
Toppings: chopped onion, cilantro, jalapeños, sour cream, guacamole, salsa

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a bowl, mix sweet potato rounds with olive oil. Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer.

Sprinkle with salt. Bake 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.

Flip and bake for about 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and flip again. Arrange in a cluster, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

Remove from oven and add toppings.

Steak & Blue Cheese Potato Chip Nachos

2 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
3 oz. sirloin steak, cubed
1 jalapeño with seeds removed, sliced
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning, if available
1 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz thick crinkle-cut potato chips
½ cup shredded pepper jack cheese
½ cup crumbled blue cheese
2 green onions, sliced diagonal

Beer-Cheese Sauce

½ cup pepper jack cheese, grated
¼ cup cream cheese
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. whole milk
2 Tbsp. beer

Sauté cubed sirloin, jalapeño and Cajun seasoning until sirloin begins to brown, about 2 minutes.

Add onion and garlic; sauté 1-2 minutes more.

Remove to a bowl and drain any extra fat.

To make the sauce: In saucepan, simmer all sauce ingredients over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth sauce forms. Add additional milk or beer if needed. Set aside.

To top the nachos: Place chips into now-empty skillet. Top with steak mixture, remaining ½ cup pepper jack, ½ cup blue cheese, bacon and sauce. Cover with lid or foil.

Return skillet to stove over low heat until everything is heated through.

Garnish with green onions.

Janet Blaser has been a writer, editor and storyteller her entire life and feels fortunate to be able to write about great food, amazing places, fascinating people and unique events. Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats is her first book.