Although confirmed coronavirus cases have topped 208,000, the federal government’s latest color-coded “stoplight” risk map indicates that 18 states have moved from maximum risk to high risk and are able to ease coronavirus restrictions.
Colima, Hidalgo and Nuevo León, however, will move out of orange and back to the red, maximum risk level, as coronavirus conditions worsened. And Baja California, Guerrero, the state of México, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco and Tlaxcala remain at maximum risk.
In the 18 orange states, gyms, spas sporting clubs, churches and swimming pools are permitted to operate at 50% of their capacity, as are hotels, restaurants and cafés. Theaters, museums and cultural attractions may reopen at 25% capacity.
Markets and supermarkets can operate at 70% capacity, but may only allow one person per family inside the store. Barbershops and beauty salons may reopen but by appointment only.
Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Coahuila, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán and Zacatecas have all been designated orange states.
The daily tally of coronavirus cases and deaths. Deaths are numbers reported and not necessarily those that occurred each day. milenio
The government considers four factors when determining the risk level and corresponding stoplight color for each state: case number trends (whether new infections are increasing, decreasing or stable), hospital admission trends for coronavirus patients, hospital occupancy levels and positivity rates (the percentage of people tested who are confirmed to have Covid-19).
Health officials say that hospital occupancy carries a weight of 50%, case numbers and hospital admission trends 20% each and the number of new cases 10% in their decision-making on how the coronavirus is progressing in each state.
The Ministry of Health reported Friday evening that another 5,441 cases had been added to the tally, which now totals 208,392. An additional 719 deaths were reported, bringing that total to 25,779.
Coronavirus restrictions will be eased in Mexico City beginning Monday. Some experts say it's too soon.
With record levels of infection and between 4,000 and 6,000 new cases of the coronavirus being reported each day, some experts warn that if Mexico doesn’t change its strategy, infection rates will continue to spike.
They cite premature easing of coronavirus restrictions, low testing rates and people refusing to follow health protocols as reasons for the upward trend and are asking authorities to go on the offensive against the pandemic.
Given that Mexico City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak with 3,842 active cases, will advance from a “red light” maximum risk level to an “orange light” high-risk level next week, experts don’t see the coronavirus curve flattening anytime soon.
“Mexico City is moving to an orange light and these are not the right conditions. The transmission has been more intense in recent weeks and if people go out in the street there will be more infections,” said Malaquías López Cervantes, a public health professor at the National Autonomous University (UNAM) and spokesperson for the university’s Covid-19 committee.
“People are exhausted by confinement and social distancing and staying home is no longer on their minds. By relaxing mitigation measures it is normal that infections continue and if we keep on like this there will be no way to flatten the curve,” López said.
Researcher and epidemiologist Alejandro Macías concurs.
Mexico has already exceeded 208,000 confirmed cases and 25,000 deaths, and Macías argues that people should not accept these numbers as part of the “new normal,” as there is nothing normal about such a high rate of contagion when it could be prevented.
In a video Macías published to social media, the doctor, who in 2009 was Mexico’s special commissioner for influenza care, advocated for increased testing and the use of face masks.
“In Mexico, cases of the new coronavirus continue to increase and deaths accumulate in large numbers every day. We are already getting used to that normality; we should not get used to it. It is not normal. This virus should not take so many people,” Macías said.
“We need to do go on the offensive, we need to do more testing, we have to do more testing. We also need to normalize the use of masks for everyone, right on up to the president of the republic. That will help us reduce the risk,” said López.
As of next Monday, 18 states in Mexico will have dropped to an orange, or high-risk level, whereas three states, Colima, Nuevo León and Hidalgo, will re-implement restrictions as they move back to red.
Hospital occupancy levels are at 59% and trending downwards in Mexico City.
The coronavirus risk level in Mexico City will be downgraded from “red light” maximum to “orange light” high next week, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday.
The switch will allow some restrictions to be eased in the capital according to a staggered schedule.
Sheinbaum said that the switch to orange was possible because hospital occupancy levels are at 59% and trending downwards.
She said 2,973 coronavirus patients are currently hospitalized, an 8% decline compared to a week ago and a 15% drop compared to the peak on May 22.
The mayor stressed that if hospital occupancy levels go above 65% again, red light restrictions will be reinstated. She urged residents to continue to take precautions to reduce the risk of infection. People should continue to stay at home as much as possible and the use of face masks in public places remains mandatory, Sheinbaum said.
“Next week … we’re going to open [the economy] gradually and with strict health measures. The pandemic is ongoing. All citizens have made an effort to stop the pandemic growing [and] we need [their continued] support,” she said.
Small neighborhood stores will be permitted to reopen on Monday and domestic workers can return to work. People who employ workers such as maids in their homes must provide them with a face mask, protective shield and gloves, according to guidelines published by the government.
Sports centers will also be permitted to reopen at 30% of their regular capacity starting on Monday.
On Tuesday, shops and public spaces in Mexico City’s historic center will be permitted to reopen, while restaurants and hotels across the capital can welcome back diners and guests from Wednesday on.
Restaurants will be permitted to operate at 30% of their regular capacity if they only have an enclosed dining area and at 40% capacity if they have both indoor and outdoor space. Wait staff must wear a face mask and protective shield at all times and restaurants must not play music or issue reusable menus to diners.
Hotels and their in-house restaurants will also be permitted to operate at 30% capacity but common spaces such as events rooms and gymnasiums must remain closed.
Mayor Sheinbaum announces the new virus alert level Friday in Mexico City.
Street markets known as tianguis will be permitted as of Thursday next week, while beauty and hair salons can reopen next Friday but must operate on an appointment-only basis and not exceed 30% of regular capacity. Their workers and customers must wear face masks and appointments are restricted to a maximum of one hour.
The following Monday, July 6, department stores and shopping centers will be allowed to reopen at 30% capacity. Their opening hours will be restricted from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
All businesses that employ 30 or more people must test at least 5% of their workforce for Covid-19 on a weekly basis, according to government rules.
During Mexico City’s “orange light” phase, a range of businesses must remain closed including cinemas, theaters, bars, night clubs, museums, casinos and gyms.
Educational institutions will also remain closed while the coronavirus risk level remains high and events that gather large numbers of people, including religious services, are prohibited.
Given that the governments of México state, Morelos, Puebla and Hidalgo agreed to share the same coronavirus risk rating as the capital because of their interconnectedness in terms of the movement of people and goods, those states are also expected to switch from red to orange on the Health Ministry’s updated “stoplight” map to be presented by the Health Ministry on Friday night.
The downgrading of the risk level in Mexico City has occurred even though the capital still has the largest active coronavirus outbreak in the country, with 3,842 cases as of Thursday, according to official data.
One of Mexico’s first two confirmed Covid-19 cases was detected in the capital in late February and the city has maintained the unwelcome title of the country’s coronavirus epicenter ever since.
As of Thursday, Mexico City has recorded more than 45,000 confirmed cases and 6,116 Covid-19 deaths.
However, the case tally likely only represents a small fraction of the real total due to limited testing while an analysis of death certificates and several media reports indicate that coronavirus-related fatalities are being drastically underreported in the capital.
The Pescadero Food Bank prepares food packages for needy families.
A return to lockdown may be in the future for Baja California Sur (BCS) if the coronavirus cannot be controlled.
Governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said that so far in June there has been a 181% increase in virus cases in the state and an 86% increase in deaths due to the pandemic.
The number of hospital beds occupied by coronavirus patients and the use of ventilators has also doubled.
The governor warned that if the virus rate continues to increase, the state could go back into lockdown, which was partially lifted on June 15.
The state health laboratory says it is currently processing between 80 and 100 coronavirus tests each day.
Tests are only authorized for symptomatic people meeting specific criteria, and when a patient tests positive, contact tracing is conducted and the person is continually monitored to ensure they self-isolate and that their symptoms do not worsen.
Health authorities have created a geo-referenced map of coronavirus patients in the state, but that will not be made public due to concerns for the safety of the sick, El Sudcaliforniano reports.
As of June 25, BCS had 1,324 recorded confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 69 deaths.
Good coronavirus news
A group of about 15 people in Pescadero, a mainly agricultural community located on the Pacific side of the peninsula between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz, is giving back to their community through the Pescadero Food Bank, which was started in 2017 by a small group of expats.
The original group started providing bags of basic staples (flour, pasta, sugar, oil, rice, beans) to families in need. Over time, they eliminated flour and sugar from their bags in order to focus on healthier, higher protein staples such as eggs, tuna, lentils, milk, fresh produce and oatmeal.
Bags of supplies ready to go to families in Pescadero.
One of the families they are helping is a single-parent household consisting of mother Angélica and her five children, who range in age from 5 to 16. They live in an unfinished home with no water or electricity.
This living situation is typical of those served by the food bank, which also helps those with disabilities and chronic illnesses and the elderly.
Since the coronavirus began, most who receive donations have lost all or part of their income and outreach has increased from 50 families to 400 families per month at a cost of US $3,000. The Pescadero Food Bank relies solely on donations, which can be made through their website, and receives no government support or help from other organizations.
And in San José del Cabo, taking a cue from other cities around the globe, one restaurant is providing respite for the entertainment starved by offering a drive-in concert in its parking lot.
Flora Farms, a farm-to-table restaurant located in Las Animas, will serve burgers, fried chicken, pizzas and milkshakes to cars full of guests who will be treated to a concert by local musicians the Shamans this Saturday evening. It will also be live-streamed beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The restaurant, like many in the area, otherwise remains closed for all but takeout as the Los Cabos economy struggles to recover from revenue lost during the shutdown and lack of tourism.
Political pandemonium in La Paz
Supporters of eight state legislators undergoing a political trial for various charges of mismanagement and corruption blocked access to the congressional meeting room and broke a window, which forced deputies to cancel the meeting and flee the building, fearing for their safety.
The hearing, which was set to take place Thursday morning, accuses eight legislators of various political parties of administrative mismanagement, breaching their legislative obligations and jeopardizing the stability of the legislature, among other charges.
Three legislative workers were trapped inside the session room when the pandemonium outside broke out. Two escaped through a window while the third remained inside due to an injured foot, La Jornada reports.
Scallop smuggler’s blues
The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Commission (Conapesca) arrested two people on Sunday at a military checkpoint on the northern outskirts of La Paz after they discovered 100 kilos of scallops in the trunk of a white sedan.
Neither the scallops nor the men escorting them had the proper papers in order to prove that the shellfish were legally harvested, reports BCS Noticias.
The arrest came a day after authorities found a similar sized stash of scallops, also illegal, in a white refrigerated truck containing 100 individual one-kilo bags they suspect were packaged for distribution.
The UFO that wasn’t
A strange object appeared in the skies over La Paz Monday evening, causing hundreds of people to wonder whether the city was being visited by aliens. Photos and videos of the round, shiny orb were circulated on social media and in news reports.
Much speculation about the craft’s origin arose as the news of the sighting went viral, with some commenting that if aliens were considering invading La Paz, they had better respect coronavirus protocol and wear masks.
However, further investigation revealed that the unidentified flying object was a high-altitude balloon, part of Google’s Project Loon which seeks to provide internet access by flying the globes through the stratosphere to help rural areas with their internet connections, BCS Noticias reports.
A capped steam well and silencer at Campo Geotérmico Cerritos Colorados in Jalisco.
Many years ago, deep inside the most primitive part of the huge Primavera Forest, which lies just west of Guadalajara, I came upon a network of beautifully paved roads which meandered over rolling hills covered with pine trees, while skirting the deep, jagged canyons so typical of this forest.
Picture-perfect streets leading nowhere are not what you’d expect to find deep inside the woods and I had the impression I had just entered a country club or a well-to-do condominium, except for the fact that there were no houses to be seen anywhere and no people either, only an awesome silence which seemed to say, “Here abide only ghosts — and you are not welcome!”
I said there were no people to be seen in this place, but while cruising about and thoroughly enjoying the unusual sensation of driving on a surface free of potholes, I came upon a solitary human being.
His name was Fernando and he welcomed me as if he had grown tired of the company of ghosts. He also informed me that I was tooling about the private property of the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). To my surprise, I learned that he was the watchman for this “Ghost Park,” but that he also acted as a guide for occasional visitors. A combination watchman and tour guide? Only in Mexico!
“!Bienvenido a Campo Geotérmico Cerritos Colorados!” said Fernando, explaining that this was a geothermal project that was supposed to be using steam to generate electricity for Guadalajara.
“Smelly lake” created by condensed steam.
I learned that the project had started in the late 1970s. “Between 1980 and 1989,” continued Fernando, “they drilled 13 steam wells here to tap the geothermal activity deep down below. They even received help from the United Nations because the object was to produce ‘clean’ electricity that would cause no pollution.”
Stage one of the project was to have generated 25 megawatts of power per hour, enough to supply the electrical needs of 7% of Greater Guadalajara.
Fernando led me to Well No. 9, a big “Christmas Tree” of fat pipes ornamented with enormous valves and fittings. He told me that the CFE had drilled down nearly two kilometers to reach the magma deep underneath and then showed me a pressure gauge reading 1,500 psi. Just what kind of power this represented was dramatically illustrated by a tiny tube less than a half-inch in diameter which tapped the main pipe and allowed a little steam to escape into a barrel several meters away.
This roaring blast of vapor was so hot you’d never be able to get close enough to it to steam an elote (ear of corn) and so loud it could drown out the noisiest ranchero radio station. And I won’t even mention what its sulfurous “bouquet” reminded me of.
I needed little imagination to figure what the result would be if the main valve of the big pipe were ever opened wide. This, explained Fernando, was why there was a large cylinder, resembling a giant yellow tin can, next to each capped well. “That’s a kind of mofle [muffler],” he said, “to keep down the noise.” He didn’t mention whether this silencer would do anything for the smell.
It seemed curious to me that the CFE had spent humongous amounts of money on a project which had never generated a single watt of power, but only upon my return home did I discover “the dark side” of the Cerritos Colorados project.
Fumarole located just north of the Cerritos Colorados camp.
According to Jorge Gastón, founder of Colectivo Ecologista Jalisco, the CFE irreversibly damaged the pristine pine and oak forest while they built their network of roads and drilled their steam wells. “They carried out their explorations in an irresponsible and ill-considered way and wreaked havoc in the woods. Wherever they drilled, they simply scraped away the entire layer of topsoil, turning an extraordinarily beautiful forest into a lunar landscape.”
Environmental activists in Jalisco had only to point to the devastation caused by the CFE in neighboring Michoacán when they created the steam wells at their well-known Planta Geotérmica Los Azufres site.
Now it just happened that, in 1988, the president of Mexico, Miguel de la Madrid, made a visit to Guadalajara and his itinerary included flying over the Cerritos Colorados area. Gastón recalls that the CFE personnel were so worried about what might happen that they actually went out into the woods and painted the denuded, rocky surfaces with a green epoxy. El Presidente, however, was not fooled and even landed to take a closer look.
Whether de la Madrid got green epoxy on his shoes, we are not told, but the fact that he had caught the CFE in flagrante delicto resulted in the cancellation of the project during the first year of Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s mandate.
Once the project was halted, environmentalists worked for years to undo the damage to the forest, laying sod, building dikes and planting thousands of trees.
When they had finished, silence returned to Cerritos Colorados and it became even more of a ghost park than before because it was now designated “out of bounds” to motorists. Only passing bicycle riders would stop to observe the little jet of steam still hissing out of Well No. 9 and then cycle on to admire a few natural fumaroles which still sputter away at the northern edge of the Ghost Park.
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That silence may soon be broken. Last week Guadalajara’s Instituto Metropolitano de Planeación reported that the CFE has been awarded 566.7 million pesos toward reactivating the Cerritos Colorados project. It now has a green light to explore and exploit the area during the next 30 years.
While many local conservationists lament this development, others point out that great strides have been made, all around the world, for producing electricity from steam wells without harming the environment. According to a United Nations University report on geothermal and the environment, “the use of geothermal energy has low environmental impact, particularly when compared with fossil fuels.”
That may be true, but if they ever open all 13 of those giant steam valves, mofles or not, I’m quite sure the one thing you will no longer be able to enjoy in the Cerritos Colorados part of the Primavera Forest will be the sound of silence.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.
Covid-19 testing is on offer to the general public in Acapulco, Guerrero, as of Friday.
Guerrero Health Minister Carlos de la Peña Pintos announced the widespread testing program for the resort city on Thursday.
He said that testing will be performed at 16 different locations in Acapulco, which has recorded 2,870 confirmed Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, according to official data.
Among the locations are the city’s central square, or zócalo, the Diana the Huntress Fountain on the coastal avenue and the El Rollo amusement park.
De la Peña said that people can be tested at any of the sites without the need to make an appointment.
He also said that 43 additional beds will be available for coronavirus patients at the CRIT children’s hospital and that eight extra critical care beds will be set up at the port city’s Ciudad Renacimiento General Hospital.
Governor Héctor Astudillo said that restrictions in the state will likely be eased next week.
He said he had met with hotel owners in Acapulco and Zihuatanejo and that preparations are underway to allow hotels and restaurants to reopen at reduced capacity on July 1.
Astudillo also said that authorities are hoping to reopen the state’s beaches next week.
Guerrero is one of 15 federal entities that are still under “red light” restrictions because the risk of coronavirus infection is deemed to be at the maximum level.
However, the Health Ministry will publish a new “stoplight” map on Friday and de la Peña expressed confidence that Guerrero will switch from red to orange.
The state has recorded a total of 4,828 cases but only 9% of that number – 436 – are considered active.
Guerrero has the eighth highest Covid-19 death toll in the country, having recorded 820 fatalities as of Thursday.
Brigadier-General Hernández and Governor Corral report on security operations.
Twelve narco-camps located along the Madera-Largo Maderal-Nuevo Casas Grandes corridor in the state of Chihuahua have been dismantled by soldiers in the past six months, the army said.
Brigadier-General Miguel Ángel Hernández Martínez said 8.5 tonnes of marijuana, 40 firearms, three fragmentation grenades, 75 magazines, 4,218 rounds of ammunition, three bulletproof vests, and 23 vehicles were seized. Eighteen people were arrested and three were killed during the arrests. Each camp consisted of between nine and 40 people.
The raid on drug trafficking camps is part of Governor Javier Corral’s Safe Chihuahua campaign in which military, federal, state and local authorities are working together to fight organized crime in the region.
Hernández explained that as part of the coordinated strategy to build peace in the state, a series of missions have been carried out, among which was the installation of an operations base with 30 soldiers in the area with the highest concentration of narco-camps.
Many of the areas soldiers patrol are remote and require crossing “areas where there are not always roads, they go as far as vehicles can, and then they travel strenuous days on foot, often having to spend the night where they arrive. This has allowed us to inhibit some actions by criminals,” Hernández said.
The only good news was in the agricultural sector.
Coronavirus lockdown measures had a devastating effect on Mexico’s economy in April, new data shows.
The national statistics institute Inegi reported on Friday that economic activity declined 19.67% in April compared to the same month a year earlier. April was the first full month in which nationwide coronavirus restrictions were in force.
The contraction was the worst year-over-year decline since comparable economic records were first kept in 1993. The previous record was an 11% contraction registered during the global financial crisis in 2009.
Inegi said that activity in two of the three broad sectors of the economy declined in April.
Activity in the industrial sector dropped a record 29.6% compared to the same month last year, while the services sector registered a 16.6% decline, also a record.
The agricultural sector provided some brighter news amid the gloom, growing by 2.4%.
News of the April slump comes two days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its 2020 growth forecast for Mexico to a 10.5% contraction. According to the IMF’s June World Economic Outlook Update, Mexico will suffer a deeper recession this year than any other country in the Americas.
Carlos Capistran, a Bank of America economist in New York, said the data for April is consistent with the forecast that Mexico’s economy will contract by 10% or more this year.
“It is not only the result of Covid-19 and the lockdown, but the lack of vigorous policies to help the economy,” he said.
“The latter and a virus that is still on the loose in Mexico will continue to keep economic activity in contraction territory for many more months.”
Forensic workers where bodies were found Friday morning.
The bodies of 14 people were found Friday morning on the side of a highway in Fresnillo, Zacatecas.
According to initial reports, the bodies were found wrapped in blankets and duct tape at around 7 a.m. along federal highway 45, near the Cerro Gordo community.
A Public Security spokesperson reported that the state Attorney General’s Office has transferred the remains to the state’s Institute of Forensic Sciences to determine the victims’ sex and cause of death.
Governor Alejandro Tello called for the strengthening of the presence of state and federal police and the development of an action strategy.
Violence has occurred across the state in the last 24 hours.
Also Friday morning, a dismembered body, also covered in blankets, was found near the Río Frío community in the municipality of Calera.
And Thursday morning, a confrontation between criminal organizations in the municipality of Juan Aldama, documented in a recording uploaded to social media where repeated blasts of automatic weapon fire can be heard, left at least four people dead and one home burned to the ground.
So far this year, Zacatecas has experienced an increase in violence and homicides reported to the National Public Security System with a total of 352 murders during the first five months.
That number translates to a murder rate of 21.12 per 100,000 residents, higher than the national average of 11.4 per 100,000 and places Zacatecas in sixth place nationwide for reported homicides per capita, just behind Colima, Baja California, Guanajuato, Chihuahua and Michoacán.
The municipality of Fresnillo, where the 14 bodies were found this morning has the highest murder rate in the state.
A failed generator caused the death of four coronavirus patients connected to ventilators in a Guadalajara hospital, claim staff at Zapopan’s Valentín Gómez Farías government workers’ hospital.
During a four-hour power outage due to rains in the area on Sunday, the emergency generator failed to kick in and power was lost to the machines that were helping the patients breathe.
Chief radiologist Benjamín Muñoz said the hospital’s maintenance department was at fault for neglecting to replace a defective battery.
“According to colleagues, the generator failed for several hours. They did not have a portable emergency generator that would have been the solution, because the patients on the seventh floor are those in the Covid area who depend on an automatic ventilator,” Muñoz said. “When the power fails, the generator stops and the person dies.”
He also mentioned that last year a faulty generator had resulted in the death of two children.
Muñoz said that when he filmed maintenance workers improperly disposing of hospital liquids earlier this year, he was sanctioned and on the verge of being fired, a process that was put on hold due to the coronavirus emergence.
Several members of the hospital’s medical staff, supported by various health workers unions, had complained about shoddy maintenance in the past and incurred threats and risked retaliation for doing so, they say.
“People have pointed out to the director the negligence, the ineptitude of the person in charge of maintenance, in addition to the workplace harassment they have suffered for almost a year, threats and everything,” said Muñoz who accused the maintenance department of corruption.
Union representative Diego Torres said it was common for public hospital workers to be fired after denouncing deficiencies in maintenance, infrastructure or medical supplies.
“It is undeniable that this health system is not investing what should be invested. It is undeniable that in a situation of a pandemic … resources should be urgently made available,” Torres said.
Union workers and representatives announced that national protests at public hospitals will take place July 1, with demonstrations planned for Jalisco, Guerrero, Chiapas, Baja California, Veracruz, Hidalgo and Coahuila.
