Nursing staff at a Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) hospital in Mexico City blocked the avenue outside the facilities on Friday to protest a lack of supplies to face the spread of the coronavirus Covid-19.
They complained of a shortage of face masks, gowns and gloves, a problem they have faced since before the arrival of the coronavirus in Mexico, they said.
“We have to go out and buy that stuff ourselves,” said one nurse in the protest. “This shortage has been going on for a long time, but now it’s getting worse because of the coronavirus.”
He said that they have seen possible cases of Covid-19 at the hospital but have not been able to attend to them as they haven’t received any training.
Another nurse said that on the rare occasions when supplies are provided, they’re not of good quality and often break or must be replaced more often than necessary.
“They give us face masks that soon break. We need more materials to attend to patients and protect ourselves,” she said.
The protesters demanded to speak with the director of the hospital, and a committee of five was formed and received by the hospital administration to open a dialogue.
Health workers at another IMMS hospital in Mexico City’s Tlatelolco neighborhood protested for the same reasons on Thursday. IMSS announced that same evening that it had supplied the hospital with what it needed.
The Mexican health system has also been experiencing shortages of cancer medications for nearly a year, and parents and family members of cancer patients have been protesting regularly to pressure the government to solve the problem.
The Riu Palace Mexico in Playa del Carmen is one of the hotels that will close.
The Spanish hotel chain Riu announced on Thursday that it will temporarily close many of its hotels in Mexico due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting downturn in tourism.
Among the hotels set to close effective March 23 are the Lupita, Tequila, Playacar and Palace México hotels in the Riviera Maya region of Quintana Roo as well as the Dunamar property on Costa Mujeres north of Cancún.
Riu said in a statement that other hotels will “gradually” close “depending on occupancy needs.“
The chain, which has 20 properties with more than 11,500 rooms in Mexico, said that its hotels currently have very low occupancy levels and therefore it has to adjust to “the reality of the market at this time.”
Riu employs more than 10,000 people in Mexico, many of whom appear set to be laid off, at least temporarily.
According to a report by the tourism news website Reportur, other Spanish chains that operate hotels in Quintana Roo are also planning month-long closures.
Lenin Amaro Betancourt, president of the Riviera Maya branch of the Business Coordinating Council, said that hotel cancellations are already up 40% over normal levels and that he expects the situation to worsen as Covid-19 continues to spread around the world and more countries close their borders.
He called for financial support from all three levels of government to help tourism-oriented businesses maintain as much of their workforces as possible.
Authorities in Cancún, where hotel occupancy has plummeted this week, have announced that movie theaters, bars, nightclubs, casinos and other venues that bring together large numbers of people will be temporarily closed to limit the spread of coronavirus, which had sickened 164 people in Mexico as of Thursday and killed at least one.
Ebrard: no plans to suspend Europe-Mexico flights.
United States President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration would suspend nonessential travel across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“As we did with Canada, we’re also working with Mexico to implement new rules at our ports of entry to suspend nonessential travel,” he said. “These new rules and procedures will not impede lawful trade and commerce.”
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told the press conference that medical, emergency response and public health purposes are also considered essential travel, as is travel to attend an educational institution.
“Essential activities will not be impacted. We will continue to maintain a strong and secure economic supply chain across our borders,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the partial border closure would begin on Saturday and also assured reporters that the economy would not be affected.
“Both countries know the importance of working together to limit the spread of the virus and ensure the commerce that supports our economy continues to keep flowing,” he said. “The United States is glad to have a friend that is working side by side with us in the fight.”
He added that the restrictions would be in effect “as long as necessary” in order to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
President Trump also announced that Mexico would be suspending air travel from Europe but the Mexican government said otherwise.
Airlines like Aeroméxico are scaling down service to and from Europe, but the Mexican government has no intention of canceling flights, said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
“We’re trying to move ahead because the position of Mexico is not to cancel flights, but we understand that there must be restrictions,” he said.
A Mexican mother gives a final hug to her Japanese “daughter.”
When I first moved to Mexico 35 years ago, I discovered that I had to suspend all my assumptions about every conceivable form of human interaction. I had to become a careful observer, to avoid making a faux pas at every turn.
Parties were the perfect laboratory for making discoveries about the new culture I was immersed in.
In the USA, you might be able to waltz into a party, wave a hand and say, “Hi everybody!” But not in Mexico. Proper etiquette requires you to greet every last person at that party individually, shaking hands with those who are total strangers, hugging and kissing old friends.
Leaving the party is also very unlike what goes on north of the border. Step No. 1 is advising your host that you (reluctantly) have to leave.
“Qué lástima [what a shame],” replies the host, “but before you go, you have to have dessert — Tía Lupita’s flan — and it’s coming ahorita.”
Osaka students studying Spanish in Guadalajara.
A dictionary might tell you that ahorita means “right now,” but I have spent many hours in country towns waiting for someone who was supposedly coming ahorita, so when you hear that word, prepare for the worst.
Once the dessert has been consumed, the process of disengaging from a party moves into phase two: saying goodbye to everyone there, one by one, of course. This involves a wee bit of a chat followed by handshakes, hugs and kisses, of course. So if you allow two minutes for these ceremonies and multiply that by the number of partygoers, you can see why it’s necessary to whisper “tenemos que ir” (we have to go) into your spouse’s ear at least one hour before you really have to go.
At Christmastime hugging and kissing really go into high gear: there’s an extra hug to wish everyone present a merry Christmas and an extra kiss for the Baby Jesus, represented by a little statue in a little crib, which is carried to every individual at the gathering so they can’t possibly miss this opportunity to show their devotion.
I learned even more about the subtle complexities of Mexican kisses and hugs with the help of 12 Japanese girls who, some years ago, were sent by their university to spend a month in Guadalajara practicing their English.
Practicing their English? Well, that clever idea was entirely due to the fertile imagination of my friend Tom Pendergast, then Director of Language Arts at a Buddhist University in Osaka: “If a Japanese businesswoman visits Mexico, what language is she going to use while she’s there? A month in Guadalajara will require our girls to communicate in English every day, while at the same time they can learn some basic Spanish.”
There were, however, other things that these girls would learn while in Mexico: things neither they, nor I, nor their language arts director, had ever imagined.
An extra kiss is given to the Baby Jesus at the Christmas family gathering.
The first cultural clash occurred during the girls’ very first meal in this country. Because they were students at a Buddhist school, we mistakenly figured none of them ate meat, so we took them to a vegetarian restaurant. Once they were all seated, a waitress placed a glass of a red liquid in front of each girl.
There was a moment of total silence.
Then the oldest of the girls looked at me and asked, “Please, what is this?”
I smiled. “This is a cool, refreshing and popular drink called jamaica. You’ll love it!”
“Excuse me,” replied the eldest girl. “What is this jamaica made from?”
“It’s made from hibiscus flowers. Just try it … Mmmm!”
This is called a ‘fuerte abrazo,’ a big hug.
“Ah … flower juice,” said the leader of the group, pushing the untouched glass as far away from herself as possible.
Then, every one of the other 11 did precisely the same thing.
Something similar happened when the food appeared. This time the culprit was the humble nopalito.
“This is CACTUS???”
From such a bad beginning, it’s hard to believe that these girls all ended up loving Mexican food (and in the case of one, tequila as well!). By the time the month had passed, they actually recommended that future programs “give the girls more time in Guadalajara and less in Disneyland.” A better recommendation I can scarcely imagine.
During their month here, each girl stayed with a Mexican family, and after a short while we discovered the hugging and kissing problem.
AMLO, the hugger in chief.
Once a bit of bond had been established, any family member who had not seen “their” girl for a while would, upon their return, give her a big hug complete with pecks on the cheek.
Now, in a culture where shaking hands is not normal, a Mexican-style bear hug came as an absolute shock to the unsuspecting Japanese “hermana” or “hija.”
Once we discovered that the whole gang of them was traumatized by this, we suspended that day’s English class. “Today,” we told them, “we’re going to practice hugging and kissing instead.”
We told them they would have to do a bit of role-play. “Let’s pretend you are María and you haven’t seen Momoka for two days. Go up to her and say, ‘Momoka, I’m so happy to see you,’ and give her a huge hug and kiss her on the cheek.”
This scenario resulted in blushing, paralysis and shy covering of the mouth at first, but once they understood this was a kind of show, just like acting on stage, all of them got into it and, sometimes laughing uncontrollably, they played their parts like real troopers. At the end of their month in Guadalajara, the girls presented us with a beautiful card on which they wrote, “Thank you so much for teaching us to try new things.”
Now it’s time for Mexicans to try new things. Covid-19 is here and there will be no more hugging, kissing or even shaking hands for a while. Maybe it’s time to bring those Japanese girls back to teach us how to bow.
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.
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum urged citizens of the capital Thursday night to “be responsible” and remain in their homes in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus Covid-19.
In a video posted to Twitter, Sheinbaum said that up to that moment health officials had confirmed 31 cases of Covid-19 in the city and offered her condolences to the family of the first person to die of the coronavirus in Mexico.
She said that the virus’s first victim, a 41-year-old man from México state who died in a Mexico City respiratory hospital, had pre-existing chronic conditions that made him more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
She lamented the necessity to implement drastic measures that negatively affect family economies, but said that they will mitigate the crisis and help it pass more easily.
“I call upon all of us to be responsible. That means staying home unless it’s necessary to leave. Don’t get sick and don’t get others sick,” she said, asking the public to help keep cases low so as not to saturate the public and private hospital systems.
Sheinbaum reminded the public that those most vulnerable to the virus are the elderly and those with pre-existing chronic conditions like diabetes and respiratory diseases, and that other countries have gotten control of the virus through social isolation.
“Panic doesn’t help. Prevention and truthful information do,” she said.
She said that citizens who have symptoms of Covid-19, which are a sore throat, dry cough, fever, runny nose and difficulty breathing, can text “covid19” to the number 51515 to get medical attention from the government.
“We’re going to continue onward. We are a great city, an example to the world of solidarity, support and responsibility. We’re going to keep you informed.”
The price of Mexico’s export crude rebounded on Thursday after falling to its lowest level in 18 years on Wednesday.
The price for a barrel of Mexican crude closed at US $17.70 on Thursday, a 21.7% increase over the $14.54 closing price on Wednesday. The gain fell $1.08 short of recovering all of the losses the price incurred on Wednesday.
The two main benchmark prices for oil, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and the Brent Crude prices, also recovered on Thursday after falling on Wednesday. The WTI price was up 22.1% at $24.88 per barrel while the Brent price rose 13.3% to $28.19 per barrel.
However, many analysts say that the rise in prices will not last. The spike on Thursday came in response to monetary policy changes by central banks that are seeking to support economies rattled by the growing spread of coronavirus.
As the pandemic inevitably worsens, demand for petroleum will continue to fall, causing oil prices to drop in response.
Thursday’s closing price for Mexican crude is less than one-third of the $55 price a barrel was selling for in the middle of January.
Mexico does have an oil price hedging program in place but if prices remain low for an extended period, the impact on Pemex and the federal government, which collects taxes from the state oil company, will likely be significant.
The government said in January that the Finance Ministry had locked in a $49 per barrel price for oil worth a total of $1.37 billion, and Pemex CEO Octavio Romero said the same month that the company had already contracted a “small portion” of its 2020 hedge.
However, Romero didn’t reveal the price Pemex had locked in or the number of barrels of oil to which it would apply.
The state company announced last week that it had received its first payment from the hedging program but didn’t say how much it got. It also said that it has $7.85 billion available in credit lines and will continue to pay debts to suppliers.
The municipal government of Nacozari de García, Sonora, announced on Thursday a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. in response to confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the state.
Workers are unaffected by the measure.
The decision was made by a government task force led by Mayor Juanita Romero, who worked with the police, Civil Protection, firefighters and the Red Cross to design a plan after state health officials announced two confirmed cases of Covid-19.
In addition to the curfew, security checkpoints have been set up at all entrances and exits to the town. The curfew and checkpoints will be in place until April 20.
“We’re still emphasizing the recommendation to take shelter in our homes, and if there is any type of emergency, people can call the emergency numbers,” said the municipal government in a Facebook post, along with the hashtag #QuedateEnCasa, or #StayHome.
Nacozari de García is a small mountain community with around 12,000 inhabitants.
Police in the neighboring state of Sinaloa have taken a different approach to dealing with the global coronavirus pandemic.
Armed with bottles of hand sanitizer and decked out in full-body protective coveralls and face masks instead of their usual navy blue uniforms, police in Los Mochis hit the streets with loudspeakers to inform the population of sanitation measures and distribute the hand gel.
The officers urged people to remain calm but to take care of their health and families. They had been instructed by Mayor Manuel Guillermo Chapman Moreno to visit every home in the city and distribute hand gel and information on personal and home hygiene.
Chapman announced that the municipal government is giving all female public employees with young children four weeks of paid leave in order to take care of their families in a proper quarantine setting.
He also instructed his administration to grant leave to public officials and employees who have sick family members and must take care of them.
All public cultural, educational, sporting and religious events have been canceled in Los Mochis for the next 12 weeks.
There is one confirmed case of Covid-19 in Ahome, the municipality in which Los Mochis is located. The patient is a 25-year-old male who is currently in medical isolation.
A couple walk past a store advising that it has sold out of face masks, thermometers and antibacterial gel.
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Mexico increased by 46 on Thursday to 164, health authorities reported.
The single-day increase is the largest since the new coronavirus was first detected in Mexico at the end of February.
Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía told a press conference that there were also 448 suspected cases of Covid-19 as of Thursday and that three patients were in serious condition. One person suspected of having Covid-19 also died on Thursday, he said.
“We had a death today that is classified as suspicious. … He was one of the people who was waiting for results [of a Covid-19 test]; we’re waiting for the results to see if it could be a confirmed case,” Alomía said.
The Durango Health Ministry said in a statement that the patient who died was a 74-year-old man who was hospitalized in Gómez Palacio.
Interactive coronavirus map indicates confirmed cases, state by state.
He returned to Mexico from California, United States, earlier this month without symptoms of Covid-19 but later developed them, the ministry said, adding that he had suffered from hypertension for the past 15 years.
If test results confirm that the man had Covid-19, he will become the second fatality linked to the disease in Mexico after a 41-year-old México state man who died in hospital on Wednesday night.
His wife said she believed that her husband had been infected with coronavirus while attending a concert by the Swedish band Ghost in Mexico City on March 3.
However, the Health Ministry’s Alomía said that authorities believe that he didn’t attend the concert.
The official also said that Mexico is still in Stage 1 of the coronavirus outbreak, meaning that people confirmed to have Covid-19 either traveled abroad recently or had contact with someone who did.
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Also on Thursday, the government’s General Health Council (CSG) declared Covid-19 a “serious disease” that must be given “priority attention.”
At an extraordinary meeting of the council, chaired by Health Minister Jorge Alcocer, Covid-19 preparation, prevention and control measures designed by the Health Ministry were approved, López-Gatell said.
The CSG urged state governors to present their plans to reorganize and expand the capacity of hospitals to ensure that they can cope with any influx of Covid-19 patients. There is concern that the public health system might not have enough intensive care beds to treat all patients who require such treatment if there is a widespread coronavirus outbreak.
Federal Civil Protection chief David León, who also attended the CSG meeting, called on the public to remain calm in the face of the growing health crisis and to follow the recommendations of health authorities.
President López Obrador on Thursday appealed to people to stay at home to help slow the spread of Covid-19, although he ruled out the possibility of imposing a curfew or restricting people’s right to move about freely.
There is already evidence that more and more people are choosing to remain at home as much as possible to avoid infection.
The General Health Council meets in Mexico City on Thursday afternoon.
Streets of Mexico’s large cities are quieter than usual, and people are increasingly making purchases on the internet rather than in brick-and-mortar stores, according to the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO).
“We’re seeing in Mexico what is happening in other countries due to the coronavirus,” said AMVO general director Pierre Blaise.
“It’s too early to have official numbers but the businesses with which we are speaking have triple-digit growth [in online sales], which shows the interest in this way of shopping,” he said.
According to data analytics company Nielsen México, the most sought-after product for online shoppers is currently wet wipes. Demand for the product has soared 243% compared to the 2019 weekly average while sales of tinned sardines, canned tuna, domestic cleaning gloves and cleaning liquids have all increased by more than 100%.
Restaurant food delivery company Rappi reported that demand for its services has tripled in recent days, while Click Abasto, an online shopping platform for products at Mexico City’s Central de Abasto market, has seen sales increase by 50%.
People shopping on Click Abasto are also spending much more than usual: each customer is now spending 3,000 pesos (US $125) on average compared to 700 pesos before the coronavirus pandemic began affecting Mexico.
Most shoppers are stocking up on foodstuffs such as rice, beans, eggs, tuna and sardines.
The founder of Click Abasto, María Esther Rodríguez de la Serda, said that the site will start selling toilet paper and other personal hygiene products as of Monday due to the strong demand amid fears that a widespread outbreak of Covid-19 in Mexico is inevitable.
UPDATE, Friday, March 20, 7:40 p.m. CST: The Ministry of Health announced this evening that coronavirus has claimed a second victim. The total number of cases rose today by 39 to 203.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, President López Obrador has faced backlash for his apparent lack of concern, appearing at large public gatherings where he touched or even embraced attendees.
But in Celaya, Guanajuato, religious leaders are taking a different approach.
The bishop of the Celaya diocese, Benjamín Castillo Plascencia, has ordered the celebration of Mass without any parishioners. He’s also suspended pastoral activities and all Holy Week events. Castillo warned that he would penalize any priest who violates the rules.
The measure became mandatory on March 17 and applies to all churches throughout the Celaya diocese. This new regulation, Castillo emphasized, has been implemented to protect church-goers in the wake of the spreading coronavirus.
The announcement came just hours before Mexico confirmed its first death from the coronavirus: a 41-year old with diabetes passed away from the disease on Wednesday.
Castillo said weddings can be celebrated, but only in the presence of the couple and the witnesses. “They should celebrate behind closed doors with a minimum presence of guests.”
The bishop explained that he decided to take the measures in response to the recommendation of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, the highest authority of the Catholic Church in Mexico. “Awareness of the danger is real and it’s a situation that we must take with seriousness,” he told the newspaper El Universal.
There will be some celebrations during Lent, but they will be limited.
The author catches a wave off the coast of Baja California Sur. Kevin Wood
I live and work in Baja California Sur in northwest Mexico. As of this writing, March 17, 2020, there have been no “confirmed” cases of Covid-19 in our region. But I believe I am Baja’s first Covid-19 case, even though it’s unconfirmed.
Let me tell you why.
No, I’m not a hypochondriac. I’m not attention-seeking. I’m not looking for an angle. I am an environmental scientist. But I’m also on Day 12 of a brutal illness. Feeling as sick as I do right now, I’m learning more than I ever thought I would about how the world treats, reacts, and cares for victims of Covid-19.
Tourists arrive in Baja daily. A week ago, I began to wonder how we continue to remain virus-free.
Then my own illness became my teacher.
Just a cold
I had a cold. But not just any cold. This one was a MoFo, especially the cough.
I had a dry hacking cough that squeezed my lungs and made my eyes water. It gripped my whole body. My stomach clenched so tightly when I coughed that all too often the coughing would make me pee.
No, that’s not normal for me. I’ve barely turned 50 and I’m in good health. I surf. I hike. I’m not incontinent. I don’t usually pee myself.
On Day 3 of the cold, I woke up with aching bones that made me think I might have dengue fever. Except dengue doesn’t make you cough. So by Day 4, I really started wondering if the illness I had wasn’t just a common cold.
For three days I tried to rest while keeping up on work. I ate lots of fruits and vegetables, upped my vitamin C intake, drank bone broth and kombucha. I took probiotics and pushed the liquids, liquids, liquids (which, as you can imagine, did little to help the urination situation.)
I hadn’t made the connection even a little in my mind yet with the news happening in other parts of the world about the spread of coronavirus.
As I said, Baja’s first case of Covid-19 in Mexico wasn’t a thought that crossed my mind. I texted my friend who lives in Italy to check in on him, not even thinking about myself. It was Day 1 for him. Not of a cold, but a historic, nationwide lockdown.
Italy was long, long gone past its first Covid-19 case.
“I’m fighting a nasty virus over here,” I texted. “Never felt such pain in my body as yesterday morning.”
“Uh … personally, I’d get a test,” my friend texted back.
And then it opened up in my mind.
“Hmmm … been wondering …”
Soon he sent me a link to basic information about the novel coronavirus. We struggled to find reliable information. As a scientist by training, I wanted to separate fact from fiction.
After some thought, I texted my doctor. He told me there weren’t any tests available in Baja California Sur and there were no cases reported in the state. He texted I should STOP panicking.
Actually he texted me this: “ panicking.”
I think he thought he was being funny.
I told him I wasn’t worried, which I wasn’t.
He told me to take extra vitamin C (whether or not that helps is an open debate, as it turns out.)
I hate to admit it, but I felt reassured. Doctors know what they’re talking about. Right?
I went back to work
My doc told me to stop panicking. I had a cold or a flu. I needed to go to work. I took some real estate clients on a tour for a couple of hours.
My job brings me into contact with a lot of travelers. I was cautious, just like I am every time I have to be in public when sick. I avoided touching anyone. I brought tissues to cover my mouth and water to stem any coughing fits. I let others open doors and avoided touching surfaces.
But my clients traveled in my car from house to house. At one point, I had to retreat to a bathroom to quell a coughing fit and pee.
That night when I lay down I noticed an unusual sensation in my chest.
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The lower part of my lungs felt leaden and there was a sensation in them like I was holding my breath, even though I wasn’t. My mind flashed to my father, who died of pulmonary fibrosis.
I suddenly understood how he must have felt in the middle stages of his illness. I’d watched him cough until his eyes watered, doubled over, sucking in air between coughs.
For the first time since I’d become ill, I started feeling fearful, realizing that I must have something worse than the common cold.
That night, the coughing wracked my body. I was coughing so hard I thought I would throw up. I remembered I had two valium a friend had given me (“just in case.”)
Being unfamiliar with the drug, I took a quarter tablet. It did the trick. With the help of the valium, I managed to fall and stay asleep.
Instead of getting better, I got worse
The next day I knew something else had me in its grips no matter what the doc had told me. I thought I was getting better the previous day but I was worse. Much worse.
I texted my boss to say I wouldn’t be able to attend our morning sales meeting. I called into a smaller meeting later that morning. The sound of my own voice caught me off guard. It had changed from the previous day’s Lauren Bacall sexy huskiness to a baritone.
The author had all the symptoms of coronavirus but bureaucratic protocols prevented her from finding out. Margot Duane
“Dawn?! Is that you?!” the sales director asked.
Then I got my research instinct to fire up. It wasn’t easy. It’s hard to think clearly when you’re sick. But I needed reliable information.
I checked the CDC website. It mentioned dry cough, fever, and fatigue.
I checked the National Institute of Health website. Same list of symptoms.
My symptoms.
Guilt swept me up about my time out in the world the day before.
I needed the damn test even if it meant I would be Baja’s first coronavirus case.
I found the “official” phone numbers for Baja’s public health team. Should I call? I didn’t want to overreact. It was almost eight o’clock at night. I doubted anyone would answer.
Two rings.
“Buenas noches, Secretaria de Salud, Dr. Flores a sus ordenes.” (Good evening, Ministry of Health, Dr. Flores at your service.)
I filled in the doctor who answered on what I had been experiencing and mentioned my doctor had told me there were no tests available.
“Well, there are tests, but they are held by the Ministry of Health in La Paz and there are criteria that must be followed before we can administer one. Have you traveled out of the country recently, or have you been in contact with someone who has a confirmed case of the virus?”
“No but—”
He interrupted me before I could complete my answer.
“Then what makes you think you have the disease when there are no confirmed cases in the state?”
“Please understand, I’m not panicking. I’m a scientist. I have a master’s degree in biology. I understand how disease transmission works, but I have all the most common symptoms and I work at two hotels full of tourists.”
The doctor dismissed my concerns. “Look, it’s much more likely that you have the flu. You should stay home. Avoid other people because unless you’ve been in contact with someone with a confirmed case of the disease I can’t do anything for you.”
I’d let myself get bullied out of doing what was right once already. I tried again, this time more forcefully.
“If this is the flu, it is unlike any I’ve ever had. Don’t you think it’s irresponsible not to determine whether I have the disease? At some point, someone is going to have to be tested or the disease will spread undetected. Don’t we owe it to people to figure out as early as possible if it’s here so people can start taking more precautions?”
“I’m sorry, but we must follow the protocol for using the tests.”
I thanked him for his time and hung up dismayed.
I reached out to the doctor I’d spoken to on Day 4 and told him about the strict criteria the authorities were using to determine who should get tested.
“Yes,” he texted back, “that is correct. Obviously you don’t have CV19.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you haven’t been in contact with anyone who’s positive based on a lab result. Go to the hospital to get checked out and so they can explain it to you.”
I bristled.
“I understand the concept,” I replied, “but it’s wrong to say it’s impossible. A person with the virus can be asymptomatic.”
“Go to the hospital and get the tests then. I can’t send you to have a test because I don’t have any control over the management of the tests. I’m very sorry. Perhaps you should consult with a lung specialist?”
He sent me the contact information for Dr. Bernabe, a pulmonary specialist I’d seen in January when my long-absent asthma reemerged.
I chastised myself. Why didn’t I think of him? As a pulmonary specialist who already knew my history, he might be more open to my concerns.
It was 8:30 p.m. I texted rather than call him with my symptoms and situation. To my surprise, he called me immediately.
“I agree with you completely. You need to be tested. I’d like you to come to my consulting room tomorrow morning so I can examine you and do the necessary tests.”
Day 7, finally being tested
I went to the clinic in the morning. As a nurse took my vitals I was hyper-aware of her bare hands and unmasked face. My heart rate was higher than normal, but still within normal limits. Everything else was normal. As I waited for the doctor in the hallway outside his office, one of the receptionists appeared and, arm outstretched, handed me a surgical mask.
“Put this on,” she said tersely.
Dr. Bernabe looks like a real-life Doogie Houser. He’s professional and confident without the arrogance of so many doctors.
He pulled a mask out of the drawer in his desk and put it on, quickly reviewed my vitals on a small piece of paper the nurse had handed him and listened to my lungs with his stethoscope. He returned to his seat on the opposite side of his desk and pulled out his prescription pad and began writing.
“You don’t have pneumonia. That’s good,” he said and started prescribing me things to help. He cautioned me about the risk of secondary bacterial infection. Then he looked up from writing the prescription and put his pen down.
“As you already know, there are protocols established by the Ministry of Health we must follow in order to test anyone for the coronavirus. I think I have a solution to this problem. I’m going to test you for influenza. If the test comes back negative, I think I can convince the authorities that we should test you for the coronavirus.”
I needed to be tested by the process of elimination. Smart guy, I thought and relaxed a little more. A technician gave me the test and the doc told me to get the meds and go home. The results would arrive by email sent to both of us.
A little over an hour later the email arrived.
I texted Dr. Bernabe.
“The test is negative. I know there’s a possibility it’s a false negative. When do I come in for the Covid-19 test?”
An hour later I still hadn’t heard from him. I didn’t want to be impatient, but he’d said it would take three hours to get the results and it was now afternoon. I sent him another text.
“Hola Doctor?”
He responded a few minutes later, “I’ll confirm with you in one moment.”
An hour and 20 minutes later, I still hadn’t heard back from Dr. Bernabe. I imagined that he and everyone else involved wanted to get this thing done and wondered what the hold-up was. Maybe they had to put measures into place to prevent transmission of the virus to staff and other patients. If this was the first suspected case they’d had in Los Cabos, they might be in panic mode. Maybe they were debating where they should do the test. I nudged him with another text.
“Hola Doctor, any news?”
“They’re going to let me know.”
“Could you clarify, please? Are you waiting for the test to arrive?”
“Not exactly, I’m dealing with operational questions from the ministry. Their epidemiological protocol.”
My head began to throb. I needed a nap, but there was work I needed to attend to and friends kept texting me, wanting to know if I’d had the test yet. At four o’clock, I received a phone call I thought was Dr. Bernabe’s number.
“Doctor Bernabe?” I answered.
“No, this is Doctora Smith, epidemiologist, Ministry of Health.”
“Oh …” I wondered if this was a step forward or back.
“I have some questions I need to ask you as part of the epidemiological protocol we must follow before the ministry can allow you to be tested.”
My heart sank. I knew those questions would include, “Have you traveled recently or been in close contact with a person who has a confirmed case of Covid-19?”
She went down a long list of questions, asking me about every organ in my body.
I stopped her so we could cut to the chase.
“The only health conditions I have are asthma and hypothyroidism.”
She asked me the two sticking-point questions and I explained, again, how I was in regular contact with tourists from the U.S., Canada, and other countries.
She finished our conversation with this: “Can you please tell me who you’ve had contact within the last two weeks? Anyone you’ve been within two meters of. I need their name, age, address, phone number, and email address please.”
“Shouldn’t we find out if I have the disease before we go to all this trouble compiling lists? Aren’t you doing this backward?”
“This is part of the protocol to determine if we can give you the test. There are criteria you have to meet in order to receive the test. This is the protocol established by the Centers for Disease Control.”
“Look, I’ve been in contact with a lot of people. This is going to be a long list! Do we have to do this over …”
She interrupted me, “Please send me a list by email. I will text you my email address.”
I hung up. I really needed that nap. I blasted off a list of six people I’d had the closest contact with.
I got a text from my friend Jane less than five minutes later.
“Your epidemiologist just called me to ask how I’m doing. I told him I was fine.” A toothy grinning emoji completed the text.
I pictured my clients freaking out when they got a call from an epidemiologist asking them if they were feeling ill. I texted them immediately to let them know what was up. They took it in good stride.
And then I waited.
No such thing as free with first Covid-19
Toward the end of an exhausting day, Dr. Bernabe texted.
“Well, the Ministry of Health says you do not meet the criteria following the rules established by the CDC,” he wrote.
He followed this with a text all in English that was apparently an official boilerplate response, which came back to the fact I had no known contact with someone with the disease. It turns out that to be Baja’s first coronavirus case, you actually have to be second or 90th or whatever.
There can be no first.
He apologized and told me I could have a blood test and send it to Guadalajara. The results would come back in five to seven days and the cost was 9,000 pesos (about US $450).
“Crazy, I know,” he texted.
I explained that was almost my entire rent for a month and the delay meant the results would be virtually meaningless. Furthermore, if I had to quarantine myself, I needed to explain to the executives at my brokerage why I couldn’t work my shifts. He apologized again and said he understood that I just wanted a clear answer so I could warn people I’d been in contact with, without sounding like an alarmist.
“So what do I do?” I asked.
“The worst part of the illness is over. You still need to self-quarantine for at least five more days.”
He signed off, “Feel better.”
Day 12 and feeling like I’m going to be OK
I’ve been sick for 12 days. I’m taking the antiviral medication and cough suppressant the doctor prescribed. I’m improving. I sit at my desk in a house on the shores of the Sea of Cortés, an hour from the city, a world away from bureaucratic insanity. In the Mexican state of Baja California Sur we still don’t have a single confirmed first case of Covid-19. And it’s pretty clear why.
To date, only nine Covid-19 tests have been given in BCS. We have just over 1,000 hospital beds in our entire state, 125 of which can be converted to inversion beds for patients with serious respiratory illness, and 119 ventilators, according to the newspaper El Sudcaliforniano.
If you don’t ask the right questions you can’t get meaningful answers. Since public health officials insist on employing criteria that negate repeated contact with tourists as a significant risk factor to test for Covid-19, we have no idea who, if anyone, has the virus here.
Did I have the first Covid-19 case in Baja California Sur? It looks like we’ll never know.
Dawn Pier is a Canadian living in San José del Cabo in Baja California Sur. She’s a writer, surfer, environmental scientist, and real estate agent. This article first appeared at JenniferMargulis.net.
panicking.”
