300,000 Covid-19 test kits to arrive from China on weekend: foreign minister

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May 13, 2020

The Chinese ambassador, left and Ebrard. — The Chinese ambassador, left, and Ebrard at a meeting Tuesday in Mexico.

A shipment of 300,000 Covid-19 testing kits will arrive in Mexico from China this weekend, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Wednesday.

Ebrard said in a Twitter post that the tests will arrive on the 11th of 20 planned flights between Shanghai and Mexico City to bring much-needed medical supplies.

He said in April that Mexico would buy US $56.6 million worth of supplies from China and met with Chinese ambassador to Mexico, Zhu Qingqiao, on Tuesday to thank him for his support in opening up the airbridge between the two countries and facilitating access to personal protective equipment, coronavirus testing kits and ventilators.

The additional tests will allow Mexico to ramp up testing as the government takes steps to reopen the economy even as the pandemic continues to worsen.

Only 142,204 people had been tested for Covid-19 in Mexico as of Tuesday, according to federal Health Ministry data, a figure that equates to just over 1,000 tests per 1 million inhabitants.

In contrast, Spain and Portugal have tested more than 50,000 people per 1 million inhabitants, Canada and the United States have tested more than 30,000 people per 1 million and Peru and Chile have tested more than 15,000.

Without widespread testing, many Covid-19 cases, especially mild or asymptomatic ones, will inevitably go undetected and the virus will continue to spread.

The director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in March that testing, along with isolation and contact tracing, should be the “backbone” of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected. We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test,” he said.

Ebrard’s announcement that 300,000 tests will arrive soon comes a day after the president of the Business Coordinating Council, an influential business group, said that more tests need to be made available so that businesses in the manufacturing sector can be certain that Covid-19 won’t spread among employees.

Testing workers widely is essential to avoiding a severe second wave of infections, said Carlos Salazar Lomelín,

“We’re a country that has performed a very, very small quantity of tests. … We need the tests so that we have certainty that the workers entering workplaces are not infected,” he said.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Defining what’s essential in times of coronavirus is a challenge

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Sarah DeVries

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May 13, 2020

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There's one bit of magic during the stress of coronavirus. The fireflies are back.

What counts as “essential?”

If there’s one thing that the coronavirus has taught us, it’s that there’s quite a variety of definitions out there — some more valid than others.

Places where people can buy food are, of course, essential. This means grocery stores and markets, but does it mean restaurants and cafés? Most would agree that it doesn’t, but at least in Xalapa, Veracruz, more than a handful have whistled and looked the other way while they remained open (but with face masks!)

And it’s not essential that they keep making food for delivery and take-out, but it is appreciated by this sushi-lover.

Hospitals are obviously essential, but what about regular doctors’ clinics? The settling of coronavirus like dust onto every part of our lives that the sun touches doesn’t erase other medical conditions that people might have had before then. My daughter is due a vaccine, but taking her into our local clinic seems unwise at best.

She could also stand a session with her kind and wise therapist, but an enclosed space with easily 1,000+ toys to handle also seems like too big a risk.

Dentists are mostly staying open, as they must. A tooth infection waits for no man.

And thank the gods that my dog’s veterinarian is still working: she had to be put to sleep last week. An unmasked friend helped me dig her grave and pack the earth in tight above her. For some things, you need to see faces.

Domestic violence cases are on the rise. Shall women die in their homes at the hands of their partners, or take their chances by going out and seeking another kind of shelter? I’d take my chances.

People are out of work. Should they definitely slow-motion die of all the problems that rapid-fire accumulate as a result of poverty, or take their chances with the coronavirus? I might take my chances there, too.

(Side note: if there’s anything that the coronavirus has made clear to me, it’s the need for a universal basic income, not just here, but in all countries. We could make the default for those earning above a certain amount to divert theirs to another collective fund, and leave them the option of “opting in” if they really, really, care deeply about the “fairness” of it. But anyway.)

Most parks have been closed off if it’s possible, but not all. We just don’t have the manpower to police the population in all possible public spaces. While two of the lakes have yellow caution tape “blocking” the entrances to the best of their abilities, the third lake is “open” because it’s just not possible to prevent people from accessing it without preventing access to the neighborhood in general.

How about the courts? I have some important things to take care of there, but they will have to wait in legal limbo in the meantime. A good friend — whose whole reason for being here is to arrive at his court-supervised visitations on Wednesdays and Saturdays — hasn’t seen his kids in over two months.

In even less-essential desires, I want to give this city a makeover, leave it positively drenched in murals, work to get some decent asphalt in for once so that new potholes don’t appear with every rainfall. Will it ever happen?

Yesterday, my 6-year-old daughter had a bit of a breakdown. She sobbed that she hated coronavirus, and that she missed her friends and going out. I cried too, because I miss all those things as well, and who can hold in their tears when their floppy outside heart is leaking pain?

The “stay inside” crowd (which I am loosely a part of) is adamant that we must respect Mother Nature’s ruthlessness, and I get it. If there’s any lesson to be extracted here, it’s that She doesn’t care about us: no matter how much we pretend we’re in control, we’re just not. Our institutions are delicate and dependent upon things we don’t control to continue working. And honestly, that’s OK: it feels like cosmic justice.

But damn. When you live alone most of the time like I do, it’s rough. People were built for people, and once in a while, that’s our downfall. It just is. We don’t get to control things even though we pretend we do, and relatively small catastrophes can send our whole pathetic little system spinning.

It’s quite easy to be preachy about staying indoors when we live with other people, especially other people that we (mostly, usually) like. When that’s not the case, sooner or later we’ll have to weigh the risk to our physical health against the very real risk of isolation-induced mental and emotional instability.

So where’s the magic in all this?

Well, fireflies are back, for one. Also really appreciating the humans in your life without the distraction of the mall is on the rise for sure.

Hold the ones you can close, and try not to judge those fleeting meetings too harshly. Emergencies don’t cease to make us human.

Sarah DeVries writes from her home in Xalapa, Veracruz.

In a month and a half, 753,000 formal sector jobs lost due to coronavirus

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MND Staff

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May 13, 2020

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Unemployed waiters ask for economic support with a protest in Mexico City.

The coronavirus crisis has dealt a heavy blow to employment: Mexico shed more than 750,000 jobs in a period of just one and a half months between the middle of March and the end of April.

According to data from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), 198,033 formal sector jobs were lost between March 13 and 31 and a record 555,247 disappeared in April. All told, 753,280 people lost their jobs in the seven-week period.

The loss of jobs last month was nine times greater than in April 2009 when the swine flu pandemic was in full swing and just over 60,000 people were laid off.

Almost 106,000 jobs were lost in Mexico City last month, Nuevo León shed 53,000 and 45,000 disappeared in Quintana Roo. Between 20,000 and 40,000 jobs were lost in seven states: Jalisco, México state, Guanajuato, Baja California, Veracruz, Sinaloa and Querétaro.

Data also shows that 2.2% fewer formal sector workers are registered with IMSS than a year ago, the biggest annual decline since 2009. States that are heavily dependent on tourism recorded the biggest year-over-year employment declines.

Formal sector jobs fell by 18.1% in Quintana Roo, 10.8% in Baja California Sur and 6.3% in Guerrero. Only six of Mexico’s 32 states – Tabasco, Campeche, Michoacán, Colima, Chiapas and Aguascalientes – recorded employment increases in the year to the end of April.

The construction and mining sectors have recorded the biggest job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, IMSS data shows, but both were declared essential on Tuesday, meaning that workers who were laid off could be soon rehired.

In addition to the job losses, IMSS reported that the number of companies on its books decreased by almost 7,000 in April compared to the month before.

Analysts at Banorte said in a note that most businesses “probably suspended work or closed completely” due to the coronavirus pandemic and consequent economic downturn.

David Kaplan, a senior labor market specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, said it is likely that there will be more job losses this month but predicted that the number won’t be as high as in April.

Jesuswaldo Martínez, a researcher at the Senate’s Belisario Domínguez Institute, said that further job losses in May are inevitable but he too predicted that they won’t be as high as those seen last month.

By the end of the year, about 1 million people registered with IMSS will have lost their jobs, he said, predicting that if GDP falls by more than 7% this year, the hit to employment will be even greater.

“The International Monetary Fund says there could be 1.5 million [job losses], including people in the informal sector,” Martínez said.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Map with color-coded ‘stoplights’ will help determine economic reopening

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Susy Buchanan

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May 13, 2020

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The new color-coded map shows the alert level and a trending indicator by state. — The stoplight map shows the alert level and a trending indicator by state.

The government revealed a three-phase plan Wednesday for the eventual lifting of coronavirus restrictions and a color-coded “stoplight” system to determine each state’s readiness to return to what is being called a “new normal.”

Phase one begins on May 18, when 269 coronavirus-free municipalities across 15 states will be allowed to reopen with some restrictions.

During phase two, which also begins May 18 and ends May 31, the country will begin preparing for national social distancing measures to be lifted starting June 1 by training businesses and their employees in sanitary measures.

June marks the beginning of phase three, in which the government will assess each state’s readiness to reopen through a color-coded mapping system which will determine which restrictions are lifted and when.

“A large part of the country has no cases, which enables us to suspend national measures in favor of targeted ones,” López-Gatell explained of the lifting of national restrictions for state-by-state measures next month.

The color-coded map will show how the pandemic is progressing in different regions of the country.

States are assigned a color as well as an upward triangle if the number of cases is on the rise, a square if the number of cases is holding steady and a downward triangle if the number of cases is decreasing.

In states coded red, Economy Minister Graciela Márquez explained Wednesday morning, only essential activities will be allowed. The General Health Council announced Tuesday that this category will now include the mining, construction and automotive industries.

In orange-level states, nonessential activities may resume but at a reduced level. Public spaces can also be opened in a limited manner. Citizens who are considered particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus, the elderly and those with chronic underlying conditions, may return to work. However, accommodations will have to be made, including providing them an isolated space to eat, and possibly shortening their workday.

When a state passes into the yellow phase, all essential and nonessential activities can resume without any kind of restriction. Public spaces can open with fewer restrictions and restaurants, churches, museums and theaters may reopen but at a reduced level. Vulnerable populations can also begin to ease up on precautions.

And finally, when a state is coded green, students can return to school and all restrictions will be lifted, although sanitary measures should continue in businesses and public spaces, and those particularly vulnerable to the virus should continue to take precautions.

As of Tuesday, Mexico had 38,324 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Reforma (sp), Financial Times (en)

Inflamed by phoney WhatsApp message, residents attack ‘suspects’

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Susy Buchanan

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May 13, 2020

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The angry mob and the hearse believed to be carrying kidnappers.

Residents of Villa Victoria in the state of México blocked the highway between Toluca and Zitácuaro Tuesday and stopped two funeral home workers, who were forced to burn their hearse after false reports on social media said they were trying to kidnap children.

The workers became lost in San Agustín Altamirano while they were trying to find the home where a funeral had occurred on the weekend.

When they stopped to ask for directions, rumors began to spread on WhatsApp and other social media that they were attempting to kidnap two children.

Hundreds of angry residents caught up with the hearse, ordered the workers out of the vehicle and then forced them to set it on fire.

Later, the municipal government condemned the widespread panic caused by fake news and asked residents to check their sources before spreading rumors.

No arrests have been made and no one was injured, although the hearse was a complete loss.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Volunteer paramedic beaten, attacked with bleach in Guerrero

By

Cody Copeland

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May 13, 2020

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Red Cross workers have been among those attacked by citizens fearing the spread of coronavirus.

Two men attacked a volunteer Red Cross paramedic in Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero, Wednesday morning after accusing him of spreading the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

Mario Alberto Montiel Flores was returning to his home after a 24-hour shift at the local Red Cross medical center when two still unidentified men attacked him. They forced him to his knees, beat him and doused him with bleach.

“They just attacked my father. … They told him to stop spreading the coronavirus in Tlapa,” said Montiel’s son Luis Rafael, who called the attackers “ignorant and cowardly people who can’t do things out in the open.”

Attacks on health workers have been common in Mexico during the pandemic, and bleach a favored weapon to give the attacks figurative significance. A doctor in Oaxaca was attacked with bleach at the end of April by a man who said he was going to “disinfect” him.

Guerrero has seen at least eight incidents of harassment or attacks on health workers during the quarantine period, but Montiel received the worst injuries so far.

Municipal authorities reported that he is recovering from the blows he suffered and that the bleach did not harm any vital organs. He was wearing goggles at the time of the attack.

The incident sparked outrage in Tlapa, where the prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened an investigation.

Source: La Opción (sp)

If public continues to ignore quarantine, Hidalgo hospitals at risk of collapse

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MND Staff

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May 13, 2020

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The outdoor market in Ixmiquilpan continues every Monday.

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)

450 markets closed in Mexico City to reduce coronavirus contagion

By

Cody Copeland

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May 13, 2020

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Many tianguis have now been closed by the coronavirus.

Boroughs in Mexico City have closed down over 450 open-air and mobile markets in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in the city.

The markets, called tianguis or mercados sobre ruedas (markets on wheels), are generally cramped and crowded, and not places where physical distancing can be effectively practiced.

Authorities closed down 125 open-air markets in Coyoacán, the city’s largest borough, and 30 in Azcapotzalco. Iztacalco halted the activities of all of its 31 tianguis for the rest of May.

The borough of Álvaro Obregón closed 20 of its 104 tianguis, and only five of the 60 registered tianguis in Cuauhtémoc, where the city’s historic center is located, will remain active during the quarantine period.

Magdalena Contreras closed its open-air markets as of Tuesday until Sunday, May 17. The borough’s five bricks-and-mortar markets will remain open.

The 140 open-air markets in Tlalpan will not close completely, but borough administrators have been in communication with market organizers to discuss implementing physical distancing measures and only selling basic necessities.

In Coyoacán and Tlalpan alone, the measures will affect 2,100 merchants, said Enrique Espejel, head of a tianguis vendors’ organization in the boroughs.

“We would have liked for the decisions and rules in the tianguis to have been toughened up from the beginning, since we’ve also seen transmissions and deaths due to the virus [in open-air markets],” said Espejel without specifying the number of deaths.

Authorities have also closed down 38 of the city’s 329 bricks-and-mortar public markets in response to the coronavirus.

Mexico’s artisans and folk artists have struggled during the Covid-19 emergency period in the face of such market closures and the lack of people in the streets to make sales.

The threat of transmission even forced the closure of a tianguis in Chilapa, Guerrero, for the first time in 500 years.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Adulterated liquor kills at least 34 during Mother’s Day festivities

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 13, 2020

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For consumers in Jalisco, El Chorrito packed more than a punch.

Thirty-four people died after drinking tainted alcohol in Puebla and Morelos on Mother’s Day, local authorities report.

In Chiconcuautla, Puebla, the mayor’s office declared a health emergency and the National Guard was deployed to help identify others who may be showing symptoms of poisoning.

The 20 who have died thus far in the community drank refino, an agave distillate similar to mescal which costs 15 pesos a liter or 5 pesos a glass and may have been tainted with excessive levels of methanol.

Typically used in solvents and antifreeze, methanol can metabolize to formaldehyde and formic acid in the liver and become toxic within a few hours of being ingested.

Symptoms included dizziness, blurred vision or blindness, difficulty breathing, seizures and severe abdominal pain.

The mayor’s office appealed to the public to avoid consuming alcohol, asked those experiencing poisoning symptoms to seek immediate medical attention and announced that a full investigation would be conducted.

Meanwhile, 14 people died in the municipalities of Axochiapan and Jonacatepec, Morelos, after drinking tainted bootleg alcohol, reported Pedro Enrique Clement Gallardo of the state’s Civil Protection agency.

In Telixtac, a small, indigenous community in Axochiapan, authorities closed stores illegally selling the alcohol, despite coronavirus dry laws, and seized 86 liters of what is known locally as cachorro, amargo or damiana after nine people died. Five others died in Jonacatepec where the sale of alcohol was also prohibited due to the pandemic.

Civil Protection warned that the number of poisonings and dead could increase as the investigation continues.

In Jalisco at least 28 people have died since April 26 from drinking El Chorrito, cane alcohol tainted with methanol, and seven have died in Yucatán after drinking bootleg liquor.

Source: Infobae (sp), El Universal (sp), La Jornada (sp)

Back to work: automotive, construction, mining declared essential activities

By

MND Staff

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May 13, 2020

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Miners will be among those going back to work soon.

The federal government’s General Health Council (CSG) has designated automotive production, construction and mining as essential activities, paving the way for the sectors to reopen despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Manufacturers in the aerospace, rail and shipbuilding sectors will also be able to restart activities as the CSG decision applies to all companies that make transportation parts and equipment. Tuesday’s ruling will help restore North American supply chains that were interrupted by the government’s suspension of nonessential economic activities at the end of March.

Most transportation sector manufacturers as well as mining and construction companies are expected to recommence operations soon after the official publication of the CSG decision.

The Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin), an umbrella group that represents a range of manufacturing sectors, welcomed the health council’s ruling.

“Construction, mining and the manufacture of transportation equipment [are] industries of great impact across the entire economy. Our proposals have been listened to,” Concamin said in a Twitter post.

Automotive industry is seen as part of the 'heart' of the Mexican economy. — Automotive industry is seen as part of the ‘heart’ of the Mexican economy.

The director of the Institute for Industrial Development and Economic Growth, a think tank, said the three sectors will help kickstart the ailing economy as they together contribute 10% of Mexico’s GDP.

They are part of the “heart” of the Mexican economy, said José Luis de la Cruz, adding that they have the potential to boost 100 other branches of industry.

Automotive sector representatives said that most companies that produce vehicles and parts will get back to work as soon as possible. However, the president of an automotive organization in Jalisco warned that the sector must be cautious and not rush into getting all their employees back to work.

Rubén Reséndiz Pérez of the Jalisco Automotive Cluster said that companies have to make the health of their workers a priority, suggesting that the number of employees on the factory floor could initially be cut by half to ensure that social distancing recommendations can be followed.

For his part, the president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry said that member companies are ready to resume activities but stressed that strict health controls will be put in place and that each construction site will have a supervisor to ensure they are followed.

Eduardo Ramírez said that open-air projects, such as work on highways and airports, will be the first to restart, adding that workers employed on more confined construction sites will be given training to ensure that the risk of Covid-19 spreading is reduced.

The construction chamber said that workers’ temperatures will be checked before they start work and during their shifts, that they will have access to facilities to regularly wash their hands and that they will be given personal protective equipment such as masks to reduce the risk of infection. It also said that workers will be transported to and from their workplaces in company vehicles where possible.

The CSG said on Tuesday that all companies will be required to follow official workplace health protocols.

The council also announced that restrictions on economic and educational activities will be lifted in municipalities that have not recorded any coronavirus cases and don’t border any with confirmed infections.

Source: El Economista (sp)