220 tourists quarantined in Nayarit resort after refusing Covid-19 tests

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April 8, 2020

Officials put up a sanitary barrier around the Bahía de Banderas resort.

Some 220 tourists from Jalisco are under a government-enforced quarantine in the tourist destination of Bahía de Banderas after two vacationers from Guadalajara who tested positive for coronavirus arrived at a luxury resort on the weekend.

Nayarit health authorities asked guests staying in 40 beachfront condominiums at Los Veneros resort to be tested for the virus, but they refused, officials say.

As a result, in a joint effort spearheaded by the Health Ministry, Civil Protection and state Governor Echevarría García, the luxury complex was surrounded by a sanitary barrier in order to protect residents and workers from further spread of the virus.

An official statement on the installation of the barrier claims that “all health protocols are being followed, and it means that the 220 people who vacation in this luxury housing complex will be in quarantine; that is, no one can leave for at least 10 days, which is the minimum time to complete the 14 days of isolation that is required to rule out incubation of the disease.”

Los Veneros — where rentals go for around US $1,400 a night — is located on the road to Punta Mita and under normal circumstances, guests are drawn to its “37 enchanted acres along a stretch of almost 1,500 feet of white sandy beach frontage at renowned Playa de Estiladeras,” the resort’s website reads. “Entry is via gated access, with 24-hour welcome and security staff. Recreational amenities currently include inviting swimming pools, a chic oceanfront Beach Club with bar and grill, fitness, wellness and spa services, and an ocean activities center.”

Governor Echevarría did not hide his contempt for the two tourists who decided to continue with their vacation plans — it is Easter Week in Mexico — after testing positive for the virus. Tourists “are always welcome,” he said, “but not if they infect our people.”

“I know who the people who have Covid-19 are, I know where they are staying. I don’t want to give their names so as not to out them, that’s not my style, but the police will do the proper thing,” he continued. “My responsibility lies with the people of Nayarit and I will take care of your health; these are difficult days, better times will come.”

Residents of the town of Sayulita, also located in Bahía de Banderas, set up roadblocks on the weekend to prevent tourists from visiting and spreading the coronavirus.

Source: La Jornada (sp), Entérate Nayarit (sp)

Thieves target portable handwashing stations in Hidalgo

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Cody Copeland

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April 8, 2020

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Public handwashing stations installed to prevent the spread of coronavirus in a city in Hidalgo are not faring well: thieves are going after the accessories.

Thieves in Huejutla vandalized and stole accessories from four of 15 stations set up by state and municipal authorities.

In response, the state said anyone found harming the installations could spend a night in jail or be forced to pay fines to cover the damage.

The Huejutla municipal government announced that it had repaired the damage and replaced the soap and hand gel dispensers that were stolen over the weekend.

Handwashing stations were set up in a number of locations across the state, many of which saw use by the public.

A retail worker in Tula de Allende said the stations are a good resource to keep one’s hands clean when out of the house on essential business.

“Now there’s no excuse [not] to wash your hands frequently when in public, avoiding contagion,” he said.

Another resident said that she sees people using the stations almost all day and hopes the preventative measures will have the desired effect soon.

“Hopefully all of this comes to an end and we can continue with our normal lives,” she said.

Sources: El Sol de Hidalgo (sp), El Sol de Hidalgo (sp)

Doctors, nurses confront coronavirus—with long hours and low pay

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Susy Buchanan

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April 8, 2020

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Now more than ever medical personnel around the world are viewed as heroes, risking their lives and fighting tirelessly to combat coronavirus on the front lines of the deadly global pandemic.

Yet a new study commissioned by the Mexican Senate reveals that in this country doctors and nurses are substantially underpaid given the services they perform, their level of education and the long working hours.

“Although they perform functions that make a difference between life and death and are among the most loved and respected professions, medical and nursing personnel’s compensation in Mexico is significantly lower than in other countries of the world and it is also less than other occupations that require fewer years of study,” the document states.

The study, released in March by Mexico’s Belisario Domínguez Institute, paints a grim financial picture of how medical personnel in this country are compensated.

The study cites a 2019 Physician Compensation Report from the website Medscape revealing that, on average, Mexican doctors earn around 16,146 pesos (US $670) per month, about one-third of what doctors make in countries like Brazil and Italy. Doctors in the United States make 14 times the salary of their Mexican colleagues.

Nurses, meanwhile, earn around 9,909 pesos (US $409) a month, a salary that lands them on the list of the 10 poorest paid professions in Mexico. Veterinarians, for example, are better paid than nurses, as are musicians.

“It is not a question of undermining the morale of our health professionals due to the modest salary they receive, but rather of emphasizing and recognizing that at the moment there is an army of brave and committed women and men who are giving everything to save people’s lives and that they are doing it, fundamentally, out of a vocation for service and love of the profession,” said the study.

The study also noted that although nurses and doctors are the third and fifth most respected professions in Mexico, there simply aren’t enough of them to go around.

In July 2019, the Health Ministry announced that Mexico needed 195,000 more doctors and 730,000 more nurses to meet the country’s medical needs, and those numbers were pre-coronavirus.

“One of the lessons we must learn from this epidemiological crisis is the need to improve working conditions for the people who take care of our health,” the study concluded.

Mexico News Daily

Beer essential for enduring quarantine, say store owners

By

Cody Copeland

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April 8, 2020

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A child makes a purchase at a Mexican tiendita or corner store — (File photo)

Beer is essential for enduring the long weeks cooped up at home to avoid the spread of Covid-19, claims the National Alliance of Small Businessowners (Anpec), which insists it be declared as such.

Major beer manufacturers halted production after the beverage failed to make the federal government’s list of essential products during the Covid-19 emergency declaration period and many states and municipalities across the country have enacted dry laws to prohibit sales.

“The isolation at home is causing states of anxiety, desperation, [and] fear that could eventually lead to episodes of irritability and intolerance, friction and disagreements between family members,” said Anpec in a statement.

“Spending all day together for over a month will have consequences and in this environment the consumption of beer at home works like a relaxant, a drink for use in moderation that contributes to enduring the strictest terms of this difficult test.”

The small businesses that Anpec represents depend on beer sales for as much as 40% of their monthly revenues and cutting them off from that income will generate significant losses for the owners, the alliance said.

It warned that beer’s status as a nonessential product could push thousands of small businesses to the brink of collapse and cause employers to lay off employees by the thousands.

“We mustn’t forget that this value chain generates over 500,000 jobs, from the field to the small business. The shortage will also cause price hikes due to speculation, affecting the already weakened economy. All of this increases the losses from the preventative measures,” Anpec said.

It pleaded with the federal government to allow beer sales to resume to avoid further negative effects.

“Just as cement and steel were recently declared essential products, [which] reactivated their production, it is necessary to do the same with the beer industry so that it can return to production.”

Source: El Universal (sp)

Covid-19 fear fuels aggression against medical personnel

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MND Staff

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April 8, 2020

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Healthcare workers have been targets for harassment. — Healthcare workers have been targets of harassment.

The growing Covid-19 outbreak and the associated fear are fueling aggression against healthcare workers on the frontline of the response to the contagious disease.

Several incidents of aggression and harassment have been reported recently, triggering a plea from federal authorities to show solidarity with the nation’s medical personnel.

In Jalisco, the president of the state’s Inter-institutional Commission of Nurses, Edith Mujica Chavez, denounced both physical aggression against nurses, including attacks with bleach solutions, and verbal harassment.

In a letter to Governor Enrique Alfaro, the commission asked for help from state authorities and for the aggression to be publicly condemned.

“We all know we are potentially at risk in public health, but violence can never be tolerated, even though we are afraid of catching coronavirus,” the letter said. “We have to maintain our mental health and share information so that [people] know nurses are not enemies of society.”

The Associated Press reported that medical personnel at one hospital in Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital, were told not to wear their scrubs or uniforms when traveling to and from work because some public buses were not allowing them to board.

In Yucatán, a nurse in the state capital Mérida recounted in a Facebook post an attack to which he was subjected.

“While I was waiting for my ride, two people on a motorcycle threw an egg at my uniform,” wrote Rafael Ramírez, a nurse at a public clinic.

“I didn’t think these kinds of things happened in our city. I felt powerless not being able to do anything while they rode on laughing. We don’t deserve it. Am I afraid to go to work? Of course I am,” he wrote.

In Morelos, a small state that borders southern Mexico City, residents of the town of Axochiapan last week threatened to burn down their local hospital if it accepted any patients infected with Covid-19, while an unidentified person doused the doors of a new hospital in Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, with a flammable liquid this week.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell addressed the acts of violence and harassment at the government’s coronavirus press briefing on Monday night.

“There have been cases, you could say isolated, but all outrageous,” he said. “Fear produces irrational reactions, reactions that make no sense, have no foundation and have no justification,” López-Gatell added.

The deputy minister charged that the aggression is “even more outrageous” considering that it has been targeted at “health professionals that we all depend on in this moment because they are on the front lines facing this epidemic.”

He demanded that the attacks and harassment stop, declaring that law enforcement authorities will seek to punish those responsible.

Victor Hugo Borja, a medial director at the Mexican Social Security Institute, also condemned the aggression, pointing out that it threatened the public health system’s capacity to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

“To threaten the physical safety of medical personnel or to affect the functioning and operation of the hospital infrastructure dedicated in this moment to the health emergency puts at risk the capacity of response that the population requires,” he said.

Source: AP (en)

First of 20 planeloads of medical supplies arrives from China

By

Susy Buchanan

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April 8, 2020

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Medical supplies arrive in Mexico City Tuesday night.

As Mexico continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic, help arrived in the nation’s capital from China Tuesday night in the form of 10 tonnes of medical equipment and supplies, the first of 20 planned shipments from that country destined for hospitals and healthcare workers.

The supplies came as confirmed coronavirus cases in Mexico surged to 2,785 with 141 reported deaths.

The Aeroméxico 787-8 Dreamliner, dubbed Missionary of Peace, touched down in Mexico City around 9:00 p.m. loaded with 800,000 much-needed N95 masks and 1 million gloves which will be distributed to hospitals and clinics in each of Mexico’s 32 states. A portion of the medical supplies will also go to Pemex workers and the navy.

Government officials and crew aboard the flight were screened for coronavirus symptoms when the 13-hour flight landed.

More supplies are on their way, said the Health Ministry’s Hugo López-Gatell.

“This is not the only flight. An air bridge has been established between Mexico and China, which means that there will be a continuous coming and going of these aircraft to bring more equipment. Ventilators, monitors and other more specialized equipment will be coming soon,” he said.

Two to three flights a week from Shanghai to Mexico City are scheduled for the near future.

Between March 1 and April 4, China has exported US $1.4 billion worth of medical supplies to countries around the world, including 3.9 billion masks, 2.4 million infrared thermometers, 16,000 ventilators and 2.8 million coronavirus test kits.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard took to Twitter to offer his thanks to those involved in the airlift. “The Aeroméxico flight from Shanghai with medical equipment to deal with the Covid-19 has arrived,” he tweeted. “Thanks to Aeroméxico, the Chinese authorities and the Insabi team that dealt with the operation. We are moving forward.”

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp), South China Morning Post (en)

Emergency doctors predict up to 10,500 serious cases of Covid-19

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MND Staff

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April 8, 2020

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Doctors see lack of preparation, resources and infrastructure: 'It's one of our realities and weaknesses as a country.'

As many as 10,500 cases of Covid-19 in Mexico will be serious and could require treatment in intensive care, according to a group of specialists in emergency medicine.

Nineteen experts with the Mexican Society of Emergency Medicine (SMME) made the prediction in a document that outlines protocols for healthcare workers to follow when treating patients with the infectious disease.

“In Mexico we have been in phase 2 [of the coronavirus outbreak] since March 23 … and it is possible that due to the virus’s progression, phase 3 will officially begin on April 19 with authorities estimating that between 600,000 and 1.2 million people will be infected [over the course of the phase]. Of that number, 10,500 would be serious cases that could merit admission to emergency departments and intensive care units,” the experts said.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, the government’s main spokesperson on the coronavirus pandemic, has said that phase 3 of the outbreak, in which community transmission of the disease is widespread, is inevitable. He has said in recent days that the phase could commence in the next two or three weeks.

While the federal government says that it has responded in a timely manner to the pandemic and is taking the necessary steps to prepare for a large influx of Covid-19 patients to the nation’s hospitals, the SMME president takes a different view.

Coronavirus by state
State	Deaths	Cases	Suspected	Tested negative
Mexico City	32	723	1350	2430
Sinaloa	13	111	329	314
Estado de México	9	320	609	1136
Quintana Roo	9	135	171	294
Tabasco	8	108	293	390
Baja California	7	136	345	590
Jalisco	7	135	752	1654
Hidalgo	6	41	87	283
Coahuila	5	109	550	502
Puebla	4	179	262	485
Nuevo León	4	93	333	1186
Michoacán	4	34	134	264
Morelos	4	24	51	170
Durango	4	15	84	156
Veracruz	3	46	429	596
San Luis Potosí	3	41	187	464
Guerrero	3	37	145	199
Tamaulipas	3	32	111	243
Yucatán	2	74	88	340
Baja California Sur	2	56	149	236
Querétaro	2	45	58	307
Zacatecas	2	10	48	213
Guanjuato	1	61	242	1051
Sonora	1	35	176	272
Oaxaca	1	35	61	237
Campeche	1	14	12	43
Nayarit	1	10	37	94
Aguascalientes		53	183	425
Chiapas		28	80	146
Chihuahua		22	68	120
Tlaxcala		18	83	189
Colima		5	19	70
	Deaths	Cases	Suspected	Tested negative
Total	141	2785	7526	15099

“It’s not the first time that we’ve been affected by a pandemic but … it seems like it is because of the lack of preparation, lack of resources, lack of infrastructure. It’s one of our realities and weaknesses as a country,” said Javier Saavedra Uribe.

Medical personnel across Mexico have protested a lack of personal protective equipment to treat Covid-19 patients, warning that they are at significant risk of being infected if they don’t have access to essential items such as face masks, gloves and gowns.

In their Covid-19 protocol guide, the SMME emergency doctors warned that the capacity to treat coronavirus patients will be affected if large numbers of medical personnel are infected with the disease, as has already occurred at a public hospital in Monclova, Coahuila.

“The high possibility of contagion for health personnel must be emphasized. That would significantly reduce the capacity [to provide] adequate care to those seriously unwell with Covid-19 and other diseases,” they said.

The warning comes as confirmed cases of Covid-19 and deaths from the disease continue to rise steadily.

The Health Ministry reported 346 new cases on Tuesday – the first time that single-day case numbers exceeded 300 – and 16 additional deaths.

Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said that 2,785 cases of Covid-19 have now been confirmed in Mexico and that 141 people have lost their lives to the disease.

There are also 7,526 suspected coronavirus cases, an increase of more than 1,200 compared to Monday, and 15,099 people have tested negative for Covid-19.

At the conclusion of the government’s coronavirus press briefing, López-Gatell reiterated that the Semana Santa (Easter Week) holidays are not proceeding as planned and that people should not travel to other parts of the country.

“A reminder, we are not in a vacation period … Now there are no holidays. We need all of us to stay at home as much as possible in order to reduce the transmission [of Covid-19]. We have not yet achieved it, the epidemic curve is still climbing,” he said.

Source: Expansión Política (sp), Milenio (sp)

Mexico is short 200,000 doctors, 300,000 nurses: health minister

By

MND Staff

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April 8, 2020

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Health Minister Alcocer: system needs 123,000 general physicians and about 76,000 specialists.

Mexico has a shortage of 200,000 doctors and 300,000 nurses, Health Minister Jorge Alcocer told reporters on Tuesday.

Speaking at President López Obrador’s regular news conference, Alcocer said that the public health system needs an additional 123,000 general physicians and approximately 76,000 specialists.

After leaving the National Palace in Mexico City, the health minister said that the system also needs at least 300,000 additional nurses.

While he didn’t specify a timeframe within which authorities hoped to recruit the half a million extra medical personnel required, Alcocer said that there is an immediate need to employ more healthcare workers to confront phase 3 of the coronavirus outbreak during which cases are expected to rise rapidly.

The Health Ministry launched a recruitment drive on Saturday that is seeking to find 12,300 nurses and 6,600 doctors, and in just a few days thousands of applications have poured in, Alcocer said.

He told reporters at the news conference that 6,548 doctors, including 204 specialists in fields including anesthesiology and respiratory diseases, and 12,605 nurses have already been recruited.

The additional personnel will help Mexico “to get through” this epidemic “in a matter of weeks, or maybe months” and continue to provide invaluable services in the future, Alcocer said.

The army is also seeking to bolster its medical capacity to respond to the novel coronavirus, which had infected more than 1.4 million people around the world as of Wednesday morning and claimed the lives of more than 83,000.

There has been a strong response to the Defense Ministry’s call for applications from doctors, nurses and administrative staff but many candidates have hit a snag: they are unable to obtain police clearance certificates because government offices are closed due to the health emergency declaration.

Mercedes Herrera, a retired nurse seeking to re-enter the workforce, told the newspaper Milenio outside military facilities in Mexico City that the job advertisement to which she was responding didn’t specify that applicants needed a police certificate showing that they don’t have a criminal record.

“It wasn’t until we arrived here that we found out that they’re asking for it and now everything’s closed; where are we going to get it?” she said.

“Because of this requirement a lot of people are not going to get jobs,” Herrera added.

Another applicant for a nursing position, 25-year-old Karla Rivera, criticized the fact that the army is only offering positions in military-run medical facilities for a period of 150 days.

“Why is it only temporary? … The health sector always needs more nurses, more doctors,” she said, charging that permanent positions should be made available.

Rivera also said that the salaries on offer – 35,000 pesos (US $1,500) per month for specialist doctors, 23,000 pesos for general physicians and between 18,000 and 21,000 pesos for nurses – are too low considering the risks to which medical personnel are exposed.

However, another job hopeful said that his motivation was not money but to help his country in a time of need.

“Mexico needs us … A lot of us want to help … we’re only in the early stage of what is going to happen,” said Édgar Hernández, one of thousands of volunteers who swung into action after powerful earthquakes rocked the capital in 1985 and 2017.

Source: Expansión Política (sp), Milenio (sp)

Mariachis serenade Covid-19 patients and medical personnel at city hospital

By

MND Staff

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April 7, 2020

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Mariachis play outside a Mexico City hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

With few revelers to play to at Plaza Garibaldi, Mexico City’s mariachi mecca, some 120 musicians traveled to a hospital in the south of the capital on Tuesday afternoon to serenade Covid-19 patients and the medical personnel treating them.

Wearing face masks (which trumpeters lowered temporarily in order to play their instruments) and maintaining a “healthy distance” from each other, the musicians assembled outside the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases, where they played a range of classic mariachi songs.

Their aim, said National Mariachi Association spokesman Julio César Barragán, was to lift the spirits of people suffering from Covid-19 or other respiratory diseases and to show their solidarity with them and the doctors and nurses treating them.

“The distancing protocols were followed by the mariachis,” he added.

The serenata coincided with World Health Day, a World Health Organization initiative whose main purpose this year is to celebrate the work of nurses and midwives and remind world leaders of the critical role they play in keeping the world healthy.

Mariachis en el INER

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While medical personnel in Mexico and many countries around the world are busy treating a growing number of Covid-19 patients, many people in other lines of work – including thousands of mariachi musicians across the country – have much more idle time than they would like as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Musicians at Plaza Garibaldi in downtown Mexico City told the newspaper Milenio last weekend that demand for their services has declined by around 70% as tourism to the capital has fallen sharply and a majority of locals are staying at home as much as they can.

“The situation is very critical,” said Antonio Guzmán, a 35-year veteran of the Mexico City mariachi scene.

“I used to arrive [at Plaza Garibaldi] at 10 in the morning and leave at 8 at night. Now, with coronavirus, I have to arrive earlier, around 8 in the morning, without having had breakfast and I go home at 10 or 11 with nothing in my stomach. Sometimes I arrive home with my hands empty,” he said.

Barragán, the mariachi association spokesman, said that funds to support musicians and their families during the economic downturn will be raised via a crowdfunding platform.

Those who make donations over a certain amount will secure the services of a group of mariachi musicians for a live performance. But don’t think about holding a raucous party any time soon – social distancing measures will remain in place at least until the end of April, and quite possibly a lot longer.

Source: Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

‘Practically everyone’ in business sector supports economic plan: AMLO

By

MND Staff

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April 7, 2020

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Businessmen Slim, Balliéres and Larrea in favor of the plan, — Businessmen Slim, Bailléres and Larrea in favor of the plan, president says.

Several large business groups have criticized the federal government’s economic response to the coronavirus pandemic but President López Obrador claimed on Tuesday that there is no rupture between his administration and the private sector and that the majority of the business community support the plan.

Speaking at his regular news conference, López Obrador asserted that “practically all” business people support his government and are willing to collaborate with it.

“Yesterday I met with some business people and we had a conversation, a teleconference because some of them are complying with the recommendations to look after themselves because … they’re older people. But they’re aware [of the economic plan] and expressed their support for the government. They made that clear in the conversation we had,” he said.

López Obrador said that among those who expressed their support were Grupo Carso chairman Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest person, mining and department store magnate Alberto Baillères and Germán Larrea, president of mining and railway company Grupo México.

“I explained the plan that we are carrying out and they agreed with it. I’m saying this so that there is no fake news, so that things aren’t distorted,” he said.

The president’s remarks came after private sector groups including the Business Coordinating Council and the Mexican Employers Federation criticized the plan he presented on Sunday, charging that it doesn’t do enough to support businesses amid the coronavirus-induced economic crisis.

However, López Obrador said that the business people he spoke with have shown their support for the government by following the directive not to dismiss employees and to continue to pay them their full salaries even though they might not be working due to the closure of non-essential businesses.

He added that the business people told him that they would pay their suppliers as quickly as possible and even make advance payments to support them through the tough economic times.

“I thanked them. … They’re willing to help in any way the government asks them to,” López Obrador said.

Asked by a reporter if there was a rupture between the government and the private sector, the president responded:

“No, quite the contrary; they’re acting very responsibly.”

He acknowledged that some business people are pushing for tax privileges and other concessions but reiterated that his government won’t act in the same way as past “neoliberal” and corrupt administrations.

“That’s been left behind now, relegated to … the dustbin of history,” López Obrador said.

He said that his plan will allow the economy to recover quickly once the coronavirus crisis passes, asserting that the government is taking steps so that there is an immediate “economic spillover” in the country.

Source: El Universal (sp)