Wearing bright yellow boots, goggles and a fluorescent green raincoat, Harley the one-eyed pug strolls the hallways of a coronavirus hospital in Mexico City, providing emotional support and stress relief to an exhausted medical staff.
The 3-year-old trained therapy dog even has his own Facebook page where he regularly posts personal messages, check-ins and links to numerous media mentions so his 900 followers can keep up to date on his activities and growing fame.
In a recent post, the dog shared drawings that were sent to him from two young children in London, thanking them for being his fans.
Harley’s owner, neuropsychologist Lucía Ledesma Torres, calls the pug her “co-therapist,” and says the dog’s two-hour daily visits have helped alleviate the “psychological, affective, and psychic stress” of healthcare personnel treating coronavirus patients at the National Medical Center 20 de Noviembre located in the nation’s capital, an epicenter of the virus in Mexico.
Harley has been providing therapy to Ledesma’s patients with psychiatric and psychological conditions for years, she says, interacting with people and drawing out feelings of empathy as they play with him.
Harley provides some stress relief to a hospital worker in Mexico City.
Ledesma and her colleagues first discussed bringing Harley to the hospital to do the same in February, envisioning the tension the coronavirus would unleash in hospitals due to the overwhelming number of patients they were bound to see as the pandemic progressed.
Some colleagues immediately wanted to play with Harley, Ledesma says, noting that members of the hospital’s medical team enjoy taking a few minutes out of their day to pet and cuddle the affectionate pug, giving them a brief but welcome respite from caring for the sick and the trials of isolation from family and friends.
“We must consider the length of deprivation of physical contact we have experienced, especially among the staff on the frontlines who have been separated from their own families for fear of contagion,” she says of the dog’s appeal among doctors and nurses.
Parents protest a shortage of cancer medications in Morelia, Michoacán, on Thursday.
A judge has ordered the federal government to report on the availability of cancer medications for children being treated at public hospitals after a group of doctors filed an injunction request warning of shortages.
In an injunction request filed with a federal court last week, the Mexican Association of Pediatric Onco-Hematology (AMOHP) warned that there is a shortage of 37 cancer medications used to treat children with cancer. Parents have protested against the shortages since last year.
The AMOHP said that 97 hospitals operated by both federal and state health authorities currently have shortages of at least one cancer medication.
“Public hospitals have stopped receiving medications … for reasons they have not been transparently informed about by the responsible authorities,” the association said.
In response to the injunction request, federal administrative court judge Manuel Camargo ordered the Finance Ministry, which is responsible for the purchasing system used to buy pharmaceuticals, and the Health Ministry to issue a report on the availability of cancer drugs and essential medical supplies used to treat cancer patients.
The judge ordered the ministries to outline the measures that have been adopted to guarantee the supply of cancer medications to public hospitals on a monthly, bimonthly and annual basis. He also ordered them to report on the processes that are in place to ensure that drugs are distributed to hospitals in a timely manner.
The government last year implemented a new centralized model for both purchasing and distributing medications, announcing last May that the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) would take over responsibility for getting drugs to the nation’s public hospitals and health clinics.
The government has blamed shortages in Mexico on worldwide shortages of some cancer medications as well as “dissident” suppliers but said in February that it had purchased three important cancer drugs – vincristine, cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide – in Argentina and that stocks would last for at least three months.
Now, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the stocks of those drugs, and others, are running short.
In addition to the AMOHP injunction request, another was filed in early May against the Mexico City government demanding that it supply cancer medications to a children’s hospital in the borough of Venustiano Carranza.
Mayor Cázares says he took the coronavirus seriously.
As the state of Morelos approaches 1,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, one municipality has managed to remain virus-free thanks to the preventative measures taken by its mayor and citizens.
As the coronavirus spread throughout the world, the mayor of Zacualpan de Amilpas, an agricultural community of about 14,000 located in the foothills of the Popocatépetl volcano, realized it would soon make its way to Mexico as well.
“I took things very seriously, very seriously,” says Mayor Adrián Cázares González, who has been in office since last December.
Early on he summoned doctors and other experts to a special meeting to determine the most effective preventative measures which he was quick to impose, although Cázares admits the restrictions at first did not go over so well with residents.
He began by prohibiting the sale of alcohol and closed down the popular weekly swap meet, the only one in the state and a tradition in the area dating back centuries that normally brings up to 14,000 people to the municipality each Sunday.
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Face masks were made mandatory and are distributed free of charge. Sanitation crews regularly began disinfecting the streets and other public areas, and people who leave their homes for nonessential reasons are sent back to their families with hand sanitizer.
Trucks coming in and out of the town, many taking crops of pears, berries and apples to market, must pass through health checkpoints and are sanitized inside and out.
“The secret has been the organization between society and government and compliance with sanitary measures to avoid contagion,” said Cázares, who holds regular meetings with community organizations and leaders.
The mayor thanked the municipality’s residents and business owners for their support, which not only includes abiding by restrictions but also the donation of sanitary supplies from the private sector, including protective suits just in case the virus does find its way into Zacualpan.
“Those suits are already here in case they are needed, and we have already started digging graves on a plot of land, not the municipal cemetery, in case they are needed,” said Cázares. “It is better to have something and not need it than to need it and regret it.”
Grandparents play a big role in the care of their grandchildren.
Grandparents and grandchildren should avoid seeing each other well after stay-at-home measures have been lifted in order to protect the vulnerable elderly, according to an epidemiologist at the National Autonomous University (UNAM).
Dr. Guadalupe Miranda Novales said that children may still be able to transmit the coronavirus even without showing symptoms of Covid-19. Therefore, the threat of contagion will still exist even after the government says it’s time to move on to “the new normal.”
“At some point we’ll return to our daily lives and lose the controls provided by the quarantine, so those with diabetes, hypertension, asthma, compromised immune systems, chronic respiratory conditions or advanced age won’t be able to care for children,” said Novales.
“Unfortunately, this includes grandparents. … We know that the elderly are among those hardest hit by the virus and this puts us in a sad situation, [in which] grandparents won’t be able to visit their grandchildren and vice versa.”
Some, however, will not be able to avoid the risk. According to the 2017 National Employment and Social Security Survey by the federal statistics institute Inegi, 65.5% of children aged 6 and under live with their grandparents primarily due to work-related reasons.
Novales added that physical distancing is the only way to keep grandparents safe from Covid-19.
“We must maintain [quarantine] measures over the long term in order to avoid infecting the elderly,” she said.
A screenshot from the Reforma video, in which video clips are accompanied by a chart showing the steady increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths.
A bomb threat made against the newspaper Reforma for publishing negative news about President López Obrador has been met with widespread condemnation.
Reforma reported on Thursday that a man who identified himself as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel called the newspaper on Wednesday morning and threatened to blow up its offices if it didn’t correct criticisms it has made of the president.
The threat came the same day as Reforma published a video showing clips of López Obrador – over a period of two and a half months – playing down the danger posed by coronavirus, urging people to continue going out a day before the commencement of the national social distancing initiative, predicting that the worst of the pandemic will be over by mid-April, asserting that Covid-19 had arrived to “consolidate” the transformation being carried out by his administration and declaring that the disease has been controlled.
The clips were accompanied by a graph indicating a steady rise in coronavirus cases and deaths as the president repeatedly offered positive perspectives on the Covid-19 outbreak.
Speaking in what Reforma described as a Baja California accent, the man who made the bomb threat said that “the entire Sinaloa Cartel is with Andrés Manuel López Obrador” and that the newspaper has gone too far in its criticism of him.
Del 'no pasa nada'... a la emergencia
The video to which a man referred in his call to the newspaper Reforma.
“This is serious: you’re now overstepping the line,” the man told a Reforma employee.
“Your company posted a video denigrating, … almost mocking the president of the republic. That’s why we’re making this call because what you are doing has already overstepped the line,” he said.
The man asked that his message be passed on to the newspaper’s editor, warning that if it wasn’t, the cartel itself would show up to “read him the riot act.”
“Tell him to not defame the president, … not to betray the motherland because if he does – tell him this – we’ll blow up the offices of your fucking newspaper,” the man said. “Tell him … this is the last time that you post something about him.”
Speaking at his regular news conference on Thursday morning, López Obrador condemned the threat made against Reforma, a newspaper he frequently derides as being conservative and the epitome of the prensa fifi, or elitist press.
“We reject any act of violence, we’re against violence, we’re pacifists,” he said.
“We condemn any threat that is made, even in our own name. We already know that we have differences with Reforma and we’ll continue to have them because we think differently. They are the most genuine representatives of conservative thought in Mexico and they’re opposed to the transformation because they want to maintain the regime of corruption and privileges that reigned in Mexico for a long time,” López Obrador said.
The president asserted that his administration will never carry out a “repressive act” against anyone, charging that to do so “would be a betrayal of ourselves.”
“We have nothing to do with [the threat] and there’s nothing to fear. We’re not authoritarian, we’re democrats, all freedoms are guaranteed,” he said.
The bomb threat came seven months after the federal government released a son of imprisoned drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán after the Sinaloa Cartel reacted violently to his arrest in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa. While it has not been confirmed that the man who made the bomb threat is a member of the criminal organization, it is conceivable that the Sinaloa Cartel could support López Obrador as a result of the decision to set Ovidio Guzmán free.
The president was among several people who condemned the threat against Reforma, whose main office is located in the south of Mexico City.
“I don’t know if it’s a real threat or the words of a madman but I do know that a free press is the base of democracy,” United States Ambassador Christopher Landau wrote on Twitter.
“The press itself is not immune to criticism but criticism cannot cross the line to threats of violence. My solidarity with threatened journalists,” he said.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court also condemned the threat.
“Respect of freedom of expression and the protection of journalists are a fundamental part of democracy. There is no editorial line that justifies threats,” wrote Arturo Zaldívar.
Ricardo Monreal, leader of the ruling Morena party in the upper house of Congress, expressed his solidarity with Reforma, tweeting that there is no justification for the threat and that action must be taken against it.
National Electoral Institute president Lorenzo Córdova said that “in a country where dozens of journalists have unfortunately been murdered, any threat or [act of] intimidation against the press must be investigated …”
The Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) called for an investigation to be carried out by the federal Attorney General’s Office.
Coparmex said in a statement that while López Obrador condemned the threat against Reforma, at the same time he “paradoxically attacked and questioned said media outlet and its [news] coverage.”
It said that attacks by the president agains the press have no other objective than to “intimidate those who exercise their right to inform the people of Mexico.”
López Obrador has been criticized in the past for speaking out against journalists and media outlets that have covered his government less than favorably.
A screenshot from the new gang's video announcement.
Members of a newly formed criminal gang based in Michoacán announced their presence with a Facebook post on Thursday.
Members of the Zicuirán New Generation Cartel (CZNG) claimed to be allied with the notoriously violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and warned the army and other security forces to stay out of their territory.
The video posted to Facebook shows a masked member of the group in front of around 40 others, all dressed in black sweatshirts and masks bearing the new cartel’s acronym.
He proclaims that the municipalities of Múgica and La Huacana — in which Zicuirán is located — are the cartel’s territory, and that any soldiers who enter will be stopped and their weapons seized.
“We respectfully warn the armed forces, especially the Mexican army, not to invade La Huacana and our area, which is perfectly demarcated by our boys,” the man says, adding that cartel members have fortified the perimeter.
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The man also bragged that the cartel already has the local government and police force in its pocket.
“Don’t bother trying to intervene in the police or local government. They’re our property and they happily hand over their uniforms and positions to swell our ranks,” he says.
But the message was not only directed at official agencies. The masked man also warned citizens who may operate clandestine drug laboratories or practice other illegal activities not to do so without the approval of the gang.
“Any aircraft that flies without our permission will be shot down, any vehicle that enters [our territory] will be detained. We’re not self-governing, but we want to show that with our finances and government we can excel,” the man says to the camera.
Michoacán has long been a battleground for the CJNG and former self-defense group-turned-cartel Los Viagras. The addition of a new ally does not bode well for public safety in the state.
Sonora Deputy Navarrete questions the existence of Covid-19 patients.
A lawmaker with the Social Encounter Party (PES) in Sonora expressed doubts Wednesday about the gravity of the coronavirus and said he has it on good authority that it can be cured by drinking cinnamon tea.
“There are honest doctors on social networks who say that Covid-19 is not as serious as advertised, they even say that by drinking cinnamon tea morning, noon and night, the virus will die in the throat,” said Carlos Navarrete Aguirre.
The remarks came during a meeting with the state’s health commission at which Navarrete urged members to reopen the state because he believes social distancing measures and coronavirus restrictions violate the fundamental rights of Sonorans.
Apart from advocating for the curative powers of cinnamon, the legislator went on to question the very existence of patients with the coronavirus since nobody seems to know anyone who has been infected, he stated, and that the hospitals he has visited look empty.
The remarks drew outraged responses from the governor’s office and Navarrete’s own party.
Fellow PES Deputy Jesús Alonso Montes Piña was particularly taken aback by Navarrete’s statements as Montes’ 25-year-old son and ex-wife were diagnosed with coronavirus on May 5.
“How difficult it is for me to hear this statement from a deputy who says Covid-19 does not exist. Tell me about it! Tell me that Covid-19 does not exist and that this is a farce,” he said. “You cannot make these kinds of statements.”
The Sonora government’s spokesperson on the coronavirus epidemic, epidemiologist Gerardo Álvarez Hernández, expressed extreme doubt over Navarrete’s claims.
“Not even the most advanced scientists in the world have been able to find the specific treatment needed to mitigate the suffering it causes in those who are infected. I seriously invite this person and others to show us the scientific evidence that cinnamon tea has a positive effect,” Álvarez said, pleading for people to act responsibly before spreading information that folk remedies can cure the virus.
A blockade in Michoacán protests intentional spreading of coronavirus.
Over two dozen medical centers in eastern Michoacán remain closed due to threats against medical personnel based on false accounts of intentional transmission of the coronavirus.
The state Health Ministry made the decision to keep the 27 clinics closed after rumors continued to circulate in various communities that medical personnel and National Guard troops had been “spreading coronavirus” and poisoning wells under the guise of fumigation operations.
The citizens blocked highways and roads in the municipalities of Ciudad Hidalgo, Tuxpan and Zitácuaro over the weekend.
Governor Silvano Aueroles opened a dialogue with the protesters on Tuesday, and the misinformed reluctantly removed the barriers.
“Dialogue is the best option. Listening to each other is always the best alternative to violence,” said Aureoles, who also patted himself and his administration on the back, saying that “we showed our faces and always will, even in the most remote corner of Michoacán, wherever the government’s intervention is needed, because we’re a responsible government.
However, despite promises to meet their demands and conduct informational talks in communities to keep residents informed, threats against frontline workers continued to circulate in the region through the week.
The tense atmosphere led the state Health Ministry to keep the medical centers closed to protect doctors, nurses and other health professionals.
Governor Aueroles urged his constituents not to fall victims to rumors and fake news reports that “are detrimental to the provision of medical services … during this pandemic.”
A shipment of ventilators arrives in Mexico from the US. They were purchased with the help of donated funds.
Mexico has the money to buy as many coronavirus test kits as are needed, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said on Thursday as the country recorded its biggest single-day increase to its Covid-19 case tally.
The official’s assurance came in response to a question at Thursday night’s coronavirus press briefing about why Mexico has performed so few Covid-19 tests.
“Was it a matter of budget or was it a technical decision?” a reporter asked López-Gatell.
The latter, he responded, explaining that “the tests have an objective and the objective is epidemiological surveillance.”
López-Gatell said that 100% of people who have coronavirus-like symptoms that are serious enough to warrant hospitalization are tested.
Covid-19 cases by state as of Thursday. Another 2,409 were added to the total yesterday, a new record. milenio
“What is the limit to the tests? As many cases as there are in this condition. Do we lack tests? The answer is no. We have money for tests, we have tests, more are coming … 300,000 will arrive on the weekend and if we need 600,000 more, we’ll buy 600,000 more,” he said.
But López-Gatell gave no indication that the government intends to test more widely, which many experts say is essential in order to detect mild or asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 and limit new outbreaks of the disease.
Earlier in the press conference, Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said that 155,932 people have now been tested for Covid-19, a figure that equates to about 1,200 tests per 1 million inhabitants. The rate is very low compared to many other countries, meaning that large numbers of Covid-19 cases are not included in the government’s official statistics.
The Health Ministry last month presented estimates of case numbers based on the sentinel epidemiological surveillance system, which indicated that there were about eight undetected Covid-19 cases for each confirmed one. But López-Gatell said last week that the system is no longer the principal means of measuring the pandemic because it was no longer practical, given the higher rapidity with which new cases are occurring.
Mexico has now recorded 42,595 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic after adding 2,409 new cases on Thursday, a 20% increase over the previous single-day high of 1,997 cases recorded two days earlier.
Covid-19 deaths recorded as of Thursday. milenio
Of the confirmed cases, 10,057 are considered active, Alomía said. Mexico City has the highest number of active cases followed by México state, Tabasco, Veracruz and Baja California. There are also 26,746 suspected coronavirus cases across the country.
Alomía also reported 257 additional coronavirus-related fatalities, lifting Mexico’s death toll to 4,477. Based on confirmed cases and deaths, the fatality rate is 10.5 per 100 cases, more than 50% higher than the global rate of 6.8.
Mexico City has now recorded more than 1,100 confirmed coronavirus cases, although some media reports have claimed that the real figure is much higher. Baja California has the second highest death toll in the country, with 495 fatalities as of Thursday, followed by México state and Tabasco, where 433 and 263 people, respectively, have lost their lives to Covid-19.
In addition to the confirmed Covid-19 deaths, 420 fatalities are suspected to have been caused by the disease, Alomía said.
Data presented at last night’s press conference shows that 35% of hospital beds in Mexico set aside for Covid-19 patients requiring general care are currently occupied, while 29% of those with ventilators are in use.
However, occupancy levels in Mexico City hospitals are much higher: 73% of general care beds and 58% of those with ventilators are currently in use.
Mexico’s ventilator stocks were given a boost on Thursday with the arrival of 2,000 of the life-saving machines on a flight from Chicago, United States.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard described the new Philips ventilators as “a grand treasure,” explaining that “it’s very difficult to purchase 2,000 ventilators in the world today.”
“It’s very significant that they have arrived today, because right now is when they will be given the most use,” he said.
In a Twitter post, Ebrard thanked several companies that contributed funds to buy the ventilators.
“Thanks to the Alberto Bailleres foundation, Grupo México, IEnova, Iusa, Bimbo, Televisa [and] Mastercard for your contribution [to purchase] 2,000 ventilators. … Very good news for everyone!!”
Small businesses are eligible for 25,000-peso loans if they meet certain conditions.
Small businesses across Mexico have been slow to apply for the federal government’s coronavirus aid loans of 25,000 pesos (US $1,036).
As of Tuesday, almost a month after the start of the aid program, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), which issues the loans, had only handed out 146,621 loans, representing just 20% of the official target of 645,000.
Due to a lack of demand, the last day to apply for the loans will be May 15, IMSS director Zoé Robledo announced.
Experts cite two reasons for the lack of enthusiasm in the program, one being the low amount offered, and the other being that many businesses have not been able to meet the government’s stipulation that they have maintained staffing levels during the coronavirus crisis.
Raymundo Tenorio, an economics and business professor at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Learning, pointed out that the government’s condition that small businesses did not lay off staff in the first three months of 2020 has proven impossible for many business owners.
He calls it a program with good intentions but bad foundations.
“How do they want companies not to fire anyone if commerce and all activity dropped off? The program is headed for failure because of the kind of conditions they set,” Tenorio warned.
The government needs to urgently change its criteria, he said. One of the conditions could be that small business owners use the loan funds to rehire workers they have had to lay off.
Mario di Costanzo, former president of the consumer protection agency Condusef, agreed with the Tenorio that the program is poorly designed, and the low numbers of applicants are due to the inability to comply with the non-layoff requirement.
“More than half of businesses have reduced their workforce, many others no longer plan to resume operations, at least this year, and for others, the 25,000-peso loan is of little use,” di Constanzo said.
A better option, he said, would have been for the government to pay employers’ social security costs for workers, or that the government itself pays workers minimum wage, which he argues would be more effective ways to spend the federal funds allocated for loans.
