Mexico’s accumulated coronavirus case tally increased by 7,697 on Wednesday to just under 3.7 million, while the official COVID-19 death toll rose by 713 to 280,607.
There are 47,944 estimated active cases, a 0.8% increase compared to Tuesday.
Mexico City easily has the highest accumulated case tally among the 32 states, having recorded more than 952,000 since the start of the pandemic. México state ranks second with more than 365,000.
No other states have registered more than 200,000 confirmed cases but eight have tallies above 100,000. They are Nuevo León, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Tabasco, Puebla, Veracruz, Sonora and San Luis Potosí.
Mexico City also has the highest death toll with 51,293 fatalities linked to COVID-19. México state has recorded almost 32,000 COVID-19 deaths, while Jalisco has the third highest death toll with over 16,000 fatalities.
On a per capita basis, Tabasco has the highest number of active cases with about 120 per 100,000 people. Colima and Mexico City rank second and third, respectively, with about 90 each.
In other COVID-19 news:
• There are 5,996 hospitalized COVID patients across Mexico, according to federal data. General care COVID wards are at 70% capacity or higher in 119 hospitals, while 52 have occupancy rates of that level or higher for beds with ventilators.
• Cases are on the rise in Oaxaca and COVID wards in five hospitals are at capacity, state Health Minister Juan Carlos Márquez Heine said Wednesday. The southern state, currently low risk green on the coronavirus stoplight map, reported 325 new cases and 11 deaths on Wednesday. Most new infections were detected in Oaxaca city but there are active cases across 113 municipalities, Márquez said.
• More than 104.5 million vaccine doses have been administered after almost 721,000 shots were given Tuesday. More than 65 million Mexican adults have received at least one shot while more than 45 million are fully vaccinated.
• Three offices within the federal Health Ministry have been shut due to coronavirus outbreaks. Those closed include the offices of Health Minister Jorge Alcocer and Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell. The latter, the government’s coronavirus czar, had his own bout with COVID earlier this year.
Located within Health Ministry headquarters in the Mexico City neighborhood of Juárez, the offices will remain closed until at least October 18.
Aquatic life takes refuge in the roots of a 125,000 year-old red mangrove forest found in Tabasco by US and Mexican researchers. Octavio Aburto/UC San Diego
An ancient mangrove forest hidden in rainforest in the heart of the Yucatán Peninsula is the focus of a new study by researchers from Mexico and the United States.
Located 170 kilometers from the ocean on the banks of the San Pedro Martir River in the municipality of Balancán, Tabasco, the ecosystem is unusual because mangroves are usually found along tropical and subtropical coastlines.
“Combining multiple lines of evidence, we demonstrate that this extant forest is a relict from a past, warmer world when relative sea levels were 6 to 9 meters higher than at the present,” the researchers said in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
A relict is a remnant of a formerly widespread species that persists in an isolated area.
“Our finding highlights the extensive landscape impacts of past climate change on the world’s coastline and opens opportunities to better understand future scenarios of relative sea-level rise,” said the researchers, who work at the University of California in the United States, the Juárez Autonomous University of Tabasco and Pronatura Noroeste, a conservation organization in Ensenada, Baja California.
Red mangroves on the banks of the San Pedro Martir River in Tabasco.
Via their study, which integrates genetic, geological and vegetation data with sea-level modeling, the researchers concluded that the San Pedro mangrove forest was established in its current location in Tabasco during the last interglacial period about 125,000 years ago, when sea levels were high enough to flood the Tabasco lowlands. It remained there in isolation even as oceans receded during the last glaciation.
“The most amazing part of this study is that we were able to examine a mangrove ecosystem that has been trapped in time for more than 100,000 years,” said Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, a University of California marine ecologist and one of the co-authors.
“There is certainly more to discover about how the many species in this ecosystem adapted throughout different environmental conditions over the past 100,000 years. Studying these past adaptations will be very important for us to better understand future conditions in a changing climate.”
Carlos Burelo, a botanist at the Juárez Autonomous University and a native of Tabasco, brought the mangrove forest to the other researchers’ attention in 2016.
“I used to fish here and play on these mangroves as a kid, but we never knew precisely how they got there,” he said. “That was the driving question that brought the team together.”
Felipe Zapata, one of two University of California ecologists who led the genetic work to estimate the origin and age of the mangroves, described the study’s findings as “extraordinary.”
“Not only are the red mangroves here with their origins printed in their DNA, but the whole coastal lagoon ecosystem of the last interglacial has found refuge here,” he said.
The researchers said they hope their findings convince the Tabasco and federal governments of the need to protect the ancient ecosystem.
“The story of Pleistocene glacial cycles is written in the DNA of its plants waiting for scientists to decipher it, but more importantly, the San Pedro mangroves are warning us about the dramatic impact that climate change could have on the coastal plains of the Gulf of Mexico if we do not take urgent action to stop the emission of greenhouse gases,” they said.
Pujol ranks ninth, three places higher than in 2019, while Quintonil took 27th place, down three spots compared to two years ago.
A list wasn’t published last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Located in the capital’s upscale Polanco neighborhood, Pujol captures “the spirit of Mexico” on a plate, according to the judges of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, which are widely accepted as the Oscars of gastronomy.
Founded by chef Enrique Olvera in 2000, the restaurant offers “a varied seven-course tasting menu that packs an incredible punch,” the awards website said.
Quintonil chef Jorge Vallejo worked at both Pujol and the No. 1 restaurant on the 2021 list, Noma in Copenhagen.
“While the selection changes seasonally, the signature Mole Madre, Mole Nuevo – two concentric rings of the traditional Mexican preparation, one of which is aged for 2,500 days – is a stable feature, alongside a steamy dish of baby corn with chicatana ant mayonnaise,“ it said.
The website also notes that Pujol moved in 2017 and is now located in “a chic setting” with a “sleek interior … lit by gorgeous natural light that floods through the windows.”
Pujol said on Instagram that it was “happy to be part of The World’s 50 Best, along with an incredible group of restaurants.”
“We thank our community: producers, suppliers, our kitchen and dining room team, our customers and our friends,” it added.
Another restaurant founded by Olvera, Cosme in New York City, ranks 22nd on the 2021 list.
Five spots below Cosme is Quintonil, also located in Polanco. The restaurant offers “a taste of pure Mexico from a talented young chef,” according to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants website.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants website praised Quintonil for offering “a taste of pure Mexico.” Quintonil
That chef is Jorge Vallejo, who previously worked at Pujol as well as René Redzepi’s Noma in Copenhagen, which took first place on this year’s list.
Quintonil, the awards website notes, “is the name of a green Mexican herb which features in some of the dishes and cocktails and pretty much sums up this restaurant: fresh, authentic and brimming with flavor.”
“… Although there’s an à la carte option, those with time should pick the tasting menu for the true Quintonil experience. From braised oxtail in black recado with almond purée and red onion to Atocpan-style mole with organic vegetables and sourdough bread, there’s a taste of many of the things that make Mexican cuisine so unique,” it said.
The website also notes that much of the restaurant’s produce comes from a nearby garden. “… Vallejo and his team keep their carbon footprint so low that many of their ingredients travel just 30 meters from origin to plate,” it said.
The restaurant also acknowledged its inclusion on the list and thanked its customers, suppliers, friends and “the Quintonil family.”
“Amid such difficult times due to the pandemic, it’s because of you that we are on this renowned list again,” it said on Instagram.
Two other Mexican restaurants appear on an extended list of the world’s 100 best restaurants. Mexico City’s Sud 777 ranks 56th while Guadalajara’s Alcalde took 68th spot.
Geranium, also located in the Danish capital, was judged the world’s second-best restaurant after Noma. Asador Extebarri in the Basque country of Spain, Central in Lima and Disfrutar in Barcelona round out the top five.
The writer "in the zone" during the Zacatlán, Puebla, mosaics workshop tour she organized.
If you follow my column, you know that I have developed quite an interest in recycled mosaic art. I used to be a quilter back in the day, but the eyes don’t let me do that anymore. Arranging tile “scraps” satisfies the same urge to upcycle the worthless into the beautiful.
Oddly enough, despite tile being ubiquitous in Mexican construction, as an artistic medium it is almost entirely unknown. (To be fair, Diego Rivera and some other artists have worked with it in the past.)
Today, there are several artists working with broken tile pieces, a technique called trencadís. I have found three community-based programs in different parts of Mexico that only now know of each other’s existence. They all engage locals in designing, breaking and placing tiles onto walls, benches, fountains and more.
But despite all the tile and pottery odds and ends that exist and the creativity that seems to surround us here in Mexico, trencadís is a niche that has not been adequately exploited.
In two of the locations that have programs — Zacatlán, Puebla, and Puerto Vallarta — the murals have become something of a tourist attraction. This may seem more obvious in a place like PV, but Zacatlán also attracts many weekenders, offering a cool mountain respite from urban life, complete with a gorgeous ravine and various small waterfalls.
Group picture with Alexandra, our instructor, right, at the end of the weekend. Leigh Thelmadatter
So I thought to myself, is there a niche tour here for people interested in learning about such art in such a beautiful place? Would foreigners living in Mexico City be interested in it, especially with linguistic support?
Well, there is one way to find out: I spoke to Maricarmen Olvera, the head of Casa de Vitramuralista (the organization now behind community mural-making in Zacatlán) about doing a type of “dry-run,” bringing several of my friends up to Zacatlán, taking advantage of their five-hour workshop, murals in progress and the beautiful town.
Three friends decided to go with me last weekend. The goal was not to gauge economic viability but rather to figure out what such participants would want and not want. The idea was three days:
Friday was for touring the town and the murals with an emphasis on how the community’s artwork has evolved over more than seven years. Saturday was for the five-hour workshop on basic trencadís skills, culminating in a small item that the participant could take home. On Sunday, we worked on selected sections of murals to leave our mark permanently on the town.
What did I learn? Number one, it rains a lot in Zacatlán at this time of year, so a minimum of two pairs of shoes are necessary. We got caught in the rain at the tail end of viewing murals, and one participant had wet shoes for the rest of the weekend.
More importantly, I realized that doing both the workshop and a significant amount of work on walls is too much for those only curious about the murals and how they are made. The workshop was pretty intense, but people were happy with what they made.
Maria Fermín in front of the Jorge Marín-style wings in trencadís. Jennifer Trujillo
On Sunday, most were happy to break and put a few tiles up, but then got bored. I, on the other hand, got “into the zone” and filled in a good chunk of space. Others decided they were hungry and took off for several hours.
Everyone loved the town and loved the getaway from the city. All were impressed with what Olvera and the people of Zacatlán have accomplished. It did not necessarily mean they wanted to get into this artistic activity.
My thought at this time is to cut the general tour to Zacatlán to two days, showing the murals and doing the general workshop. If there is interest, we can offer a trip focusing on one or more murals in progress.
I should also admit that I hope to recruit people for a similar project I am starting in Mexico City. I can’t imagine a city with more “junk” to salvage than here — and more space and interest in muralism by many average people.
We could also offer the really basic course, sending people interested in more advanced skills to Zacatlán. It will take us years to catch up with them (if we ever do).
If you are interested in any of these projects, you can contact MariCarmen Olvera for Zacatlán, in the north of Puebla; Marissa Martínez in San Luis Potosí; Natasha Moraga in Puerto Vallarta; or Leigh Thelmadatter (me) at [email protected] for the start-up here in Mexico City.
A member of the Zacatlán workshop places precut tile pieces onto a panel depicting a traditional dancer from Tlaxcala. Leigh Thelmadatter
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
Sidra San Francisco's Andrea Martínez Castillo García offers a taste of its ambar hard cider in the Cholula store. photos by Joseph Sorrentino
In a small room behind the counter at cider makers Sidra San Francisco, Gabriel Hernández García makes sidra (hard cider) the same way his great-grandfather, Gabriel Guerrero Miruela, learned to do it almost 100 years ago: completely by hand.
“A French chef taught my bisabuelo in 1927,” he said, “and he passed the information to his sons.”
The chef’s full name has been lost, but his surname may have been Prago and the techniques he taught Guerrero continue to be passed down faithfully. Hernández worked in his grandmother’s fábrica (factory, or in this case, cider mill), Sidra San Gabriel, for four years, learning how to make the beverage. Through four generations, “the recipe has not changed,” he said.
Sidra is a very old drink. No one knows when it was first made, but it’s known that Celts in Britain were making it at least 3,000 years ago. When Julius Caesar made his first attempt to invade in 55 B.C., he and his soldiers became so enamored with the drink they brought it back with them and left the first written record of it. Very soon, sidra spread across the Roman Empire and throughout Europe.
It took a couple of thousand years, but the drink finally caught on in Mexico when Prago transferred the knowledge of how to make it to Hernández’s great-grandfather. Today, sidra is served at many celebrations in Mexico, including quinceañera parties, weddings and other fiestas. It is especially popular at Christmas and New Year’s.
Pouring the apples into the grinder. The pulp is used as animal feed so as not to waste anything.
Sidra is popular in Spain, especially in the apple-growing region of Asturias, but the conquistadors apparently didn’t bring it with them when they arrived in Mexico. And because Guerrero was taught by a Frenchman, “the sidra made here is more similar to that made in France,” said Hernández.
He makes his sidra in Huejotzingo, Puebla, a small city that’s about 25 miles northwest of Puebla city. It’s become famous for the beverage and currently boasts around 30 sidra makers. Hernández figures 70% of the owners are members of his family. His own fábrica is small, the crew consisting of Hernández; his wife, Andrea Martínez Castillo; one son; and two other employees.
Hernández uses only Perón apples, which are grown in orchards surrounding Popocatépetl, an active volcano. “We use these apples because they have a good level of acid and they are flavorful,” García said.
Although Hernández starts making sidra in April, using about 200 pounds of apples a month through June, production doesn’t really crank up until later in the summer. Then, said Martínez, “we use four tonnes a month in July and August.”
In the back room, where the air is perfumed with the smell of the fruit, Hernández dips a basket into a concrete tub where apples are being washed. He loads them into a grinder to make a pulp he called gabazo. “This is given to animals to eat,” he said. “Horses, cows, pigs. We have no waste. We use everything.”
The pulp lands on a cloth that covers slatted wooden trays made from old apple trees. Once about 20 pounds of apples have been ground, Hernández gently spreads the pulp evenly, folds the cloth over it and places several more trays on top.
He then swings the tray into position, where a small hydraulic pump is used to apply pressure, squeezing out the juice. In an eight-hour day, Hernández can grind one tonne of apples, from which he will eventually make 1,600 bottles of sidra.
The resulting liquid is transferred to 200-liter oak barrels, where it is left to ferment. They only use oak because, explained García, “The oak imparts flavor to the sidra.”
The fermentation step takes around three months and is all-natural. “The apple seeds contain yeast, and this is what drives the fermentation,” Hernández said. “We do not add yeast.” Yeast is released from the seeds’ shells when the apples are crushed.
“We do not stop the fermentation,” he continued. “When the yeast has used up all the sugars in the juice, the yeast dies and precipitates. The liquid that is left is clear and brilliant. We move that to another barrel.
“We fill that barrel to the top, put on a cover and seal it with paraffin. We control the light, temperature, humidity. These are in another place where they cannot be disturbed. The liquid will mature for three years, and then we will bottle it.”
Hernández’s sidra is aged significantly longer than some others.
Checking the product for color.
“The juice is aged three years in oak barrels so that it acquires a better quality and flavor,” García said. “This yields a natural gasification and amount of alcohol. We give it this much time to achieve the notes and flavors that characterize sidra from Sidra San Francisco.”
The final step in the production is bottling the juice. Hernández estimates he can produce about 96,000 bottles a year. A small machine directs the juice into bottles, but all the other steps — hammering a plastic cap into the bottle’s neck, twisting on a thin wire to secure the cap in place, adding a gold wrap to the neck and, finally, placing a label on the bottle — are all done by hand.
Sidra is low in alcohol. Hernández’s is 3% while some others are just slightly higher at 3.5%. Like other producers, Sidra San Francisco sells several types.
The most popular is ambar, also called champagne which, as its name suggests, has an amber color. They also sell fruit-flavored sidras, including pear, tangerine, peach, pomegranate, blackberry and strawberry. “The flavored sidras are 60% apple juice and 40% other fruit,” said García. They also make rosada, a sidra that is mixed with wine.
After all of the apples are harvested and the juice is aging in barrels, Hernández turns his attention to making wine, using grapes from Santa Rita, a small town in Puebla.
“We make our own because we have the experience,” García said. “We have experimented and determined how to make the most flavorful wine.” Their rosada is aged in oak barrels for an additional year.
Some makers offer a nonalcoholic sidra, but Hernández reacted strongly when asked about that. “To be called sidra, it must be fermented apple juice,” he said. “It is natural alcohol; none is added. Sidra without alcohol is not sidra.”
When asked why he continues to make sidra in such a difficult and time-consuming way, Hernández doesn’t hesitate in his response.
“When I was young, my grandmother transmitted this love of sidra to me,” he said. “She took me to the fábrica, and I saw the process.”
That love will be passed to the next generation, he said. “I will teach my children.”
Sidra San Francisco has two locations. In Huejotzingo, where the fábrica is located, they’re in an alley opposite the ex-convent on Callejón del Convento in Barrio Centro. The store in Cholula is located at Avenida Morelos 212. More information may be found on their Facebook business page.
More than two-thirds of Oaxaca lawmakers voted in favor of the bill.
The Congress of Oaxaca has passed a law that streamlines the process for children aged 12 and over to change their gender identity, as long as they have the consent of their parents or legal guardians.
More than two-thirds of lawmakers voted in favor of changing the southern state’s civil code to give minors the freedom to decide whether they want to be identified as a boy, girl or non-binary without having to go to court.
The new law is expected to be promulgated Thursday via publication in Oaxaca’s official gazette.
After promulgation, adolescents will be able to legally change their gender via a short administrative process at civil registry offices. Officials at those offices will be required to confirm a child’s desire to change his or her gender and ensure that the child knows the ramifications of the decision.
Children who don’t have the consent of their parents or legal guardians can seek the assistance of the Oaxaca State Prosecutor’s Office for the Protection of Child and Adolescent Rights.
As things currently stand, children in Oaxaca who wish to change their gender identity have to file an application with a court and appear with a parent or guardian before a judge.
The only state where children can currently change the sex on their birth certificate via a quick formality at a government office is Mexico City. The city government published a decree in August to legalize the process, almost two years after a proposal to that end was discussed and found support among lawmakers in two congressional committees.
Maruchan products remain on store shelves but not for long, Profeco says.
Twelve different instant soup products have been withdrawn because the information on their packaging is incorrect or misleading.
The head of the federal consumer protection agency Profeco said Monday that almost 130,000 product units had been taken off shelves.
“In the operation we carried out, 129,937 units of instant soups were withdrawn from the market. [They] correspond to 12 products [sold under] nine different brands,” Ricardo Sheffield told President López Obrador’s regular news conference.
The withdrawal followed a study of 33 instant soup products that analyzed the information on their packaging and their protein, fat, carbohydrates, energy and salt content. Its findings were published in the October issue of Profeco’s magazine, Revista del Consumidor.
Sheffield said that one of the products withdrawn was Korean instant noodle product Buldak Cheese, whose packaging says it has cheese and chicken.
Profeco’s magazine focuses on instant soups this month.
“But it doesn’t have any cheese or any chicken. It’s deceitful advertising. … “You get more chicken kissing a chicken than with that soup,” he said.
“There’s another [product] called Maruchan Ramen that says it has vegetables. You can see in the Revista del Consumidor that the pieces of vegetables it has … fit on the tip of your fingernail,” Sheffield said. “The photo [on the product] shows peas, carrots, everything, as if it was something very healthy.”
Maruchan soups have not yet been taken off shelves but Profeco intends to withdraw them soon. That news prompted panic buying of the product, according to numerous social media users.
The Profeco chief said that instant soups sold under the Knorr brand were also withdrawn. Knorr soups have more calories than their labels indicate, he said.
“… In addition, they hide that they add sugar. That’s why these [instant] soups are so attractive – they have a lot of salt and a lot of sugar; they taste good but they’re not so good for you,” Sheffield said.
J-Basket instant noodles, Chikara udon and Ottogi ramen were among the other products taken off shelves.
According to the World Instant Noodles Association, Mexico is the world’s 15th largest consumer of instant soups. Maruchan “instant lunch” cup noodles are particularly popular due to their low price (about 11 pesos) and widespread availability at convenience stores such as OXXO.
Sold in a polystyrene cup, the noodle soups are commonly heated in microwaves at convenience stores but Sheffield warned against the practice, asserting that it causes chemicals to leak into the soup.
“They’re harmful to health, even more so if you’re eating them frequently,” he said.
Author Susan Meyers' workshop "Jumpstart Your Story: Building Energy from Beginning to End" takes place online October 19 and 21.
Aspiring writers looking for guidance on how to finally finish that novel or memoir sitting inside them — or inside their drawer — may want to check out the San Miguel Literary Sala’s five online workshops for writers this month, where you can learn from the professionals to write descriptions that stay with the reader for days, pace your novel so your audience hangs on every word and craft dialogue that jumps off the page.
All classes are live and interactive, conducted via videoconferencing software.
Times given below are in Central Daylight Time:
October 18 & 20, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. — David Dykes: “The World Wants to Make You a Better Writer.” Learn to break through your blocks and limitations in this workshop with a teacher, editor and author who will show you through writing exercises, examples from great works of fiction and interactive imaginative activities how to hone your skills in using sensory details to make your fiction more vivid, compelling and coherent. Dykes has taught at Texas State University, the University of New Orleans and the University of Tennessee.
October 19 & 21, 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Tom Coash: “To Be or Not To Be,” the Art of Writing Compelling Monologues.” Monologues are booming in popularity, and they can be many things, but what they can’t be is forced or fake. This seminar will take a close look at successful monologues and use playwriting and theater techniques plus writing exercises to give you a fresh look at the art of single-handed spiels. A playwright and director, Coash currently teaches at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Creative Writing MFA Program.
October 19, 4–7 p.m. — Susan Meyers: “Jumpstart Your Story: Building Energy from Beginning to End.” Get started — or recharge — your novel or memoir project by delving into several less frequently studied narrative tools like momentum, shaping, pacing and information release to improve your narrative. Meyers is the director of the Creative Writing Program at Seattle University.
Oct 25 & 27, 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — David Ramsey: “The Divine Details: The Key Ingredient in Creative Nonfiction.” Details are the precise notes that allow a piece of writing to sing. Ramsey, whose writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Republic,Slate and many other publications, will help you create fictive details that show the reader something clear, specific and unforgettable. Explore how to hone your powers of observation and make your writing vivid, using three key elements: specificity, purpose, and surprise.
October 30, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (six-hour master class) — Laura Davis: “Memoir: How to Create Unforgettably Vivid Moments Your Readers Will Never Forget.” A writing teacher and the author of seven nonfiction books, Davis will teach you to create emotionally resonant moments that pull readers into your world on the page and you’ll leave with a powerful first draft of a crucial scene, a list of future scenes to develop and a set of new skills.
An additional 788 COVID-19 fatalities were reported on Tuesday, lifting Mexico’s official death toll to 279,894.
The Health Ministry also reported 7,682 new coronavirus cases, increasing the accumulated tally to 3.69 million.
There are 47,569 estimated active cases, a 1.7% increase compared to Monday. Tabasco is the only state with more than 100 active cases per 100,000 people. The Gulf coast state currently has about 120 active cases for every 100,000 residents.
Mexico City and Colima rank second and third respectively. Both states have about 90 active cases per 100,000 residents.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are six states with fewer than 20 active cases per 100,000 people, according to Health Ministry data. They are Chiapas, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Veracruz, Michoacán and Sinaloa.
About 73% of Mexican adults have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot but only about half of all citizens – adults and children – are vaccinated. Only 36% of citizens are fully vaccinated, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker.
The federal government expects to have offered at least one dose to all adults by the end of October but has not announced plans to inoculate children apart from approximately 1 million minors with health conditions that make them vulnerable to serious COVID-19 illness.
Mexico has the fourth highest COVID-19 death toll in the world and the 18th highest mortality rate with 218.8 fatalities per 100,000 people, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Despite the high death toll, President López Obrador has characterized the government’s management of the pandemic as a success, writing in his new book that “we’ve done everything humanly possible to confront the pandemic and save lives.”
Airport traffic indicates tourism is recovering in Cancún.
Last month was the busiest September ever for arrivals at Cancún airport, a clear sign that the Caribbean coast resort city is recovering strongly from the pandemic-induced tourism downturn.
Just over 1.66 million passengers flew to Cancún last month, according to airport operator ASUR, a 94% spike compared to September last year and a 4.4% increase compared to the same month of 2019.
Just over 56% of the incoming passengers, or 933,000 people, arrived on international flights while just under 44%, or 728,000 people, flew in from other airports in Mexico.
While the numbers are encouraging, tourism consultancy firm GEMES believes that international arrivals could have been higher had two factors not deterred United States citizens from traveling to Mexico.
An increase in coronavirus cases in the United States changed people’s perceptions about the safety of travel and caused a significant number of travelers to cancel or postpone their plans to come to Mexico, according to GEMES.
Secondly, the opening up of Canada and European nations to United States tourists lured people to those destinations and away from Mexico, the firm said.
“… There is a strong appetite to return to Europe and other destinations in the United States market,” GEMES said.
“While travel restrictions were reimposed in September in some European countries, it is only a matter of time until they will be lifted again.”
Mexico has been an attractive destination for many international tourists because it hasn’t required incoming travelers to show a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination, or go into mandatory quarantine. The absence of restrictions was blamed for fueling coronavirus outbreaks in tourism hotspots such as Cancún and Los Cabos earlier in the pandemic.
However, the coronavirus situation in Quintana Roo – the state where Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Cozumel and other popular tourism destinations are located – has improved markedly in recent weeks and it is now low risk green on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map. There are just 545 active cases in the state, the federal Health Ministry reported Tuesday.
The sargassum situation has also recently improved after large amounts of the seaweed reached Quintana Roo’s coastline earlier this year. A map published Tuesday by the Quintana Roo Sargassum Monitoring Network showed that there are no beaches with excessive amounts of the weed and just six with abundant quantities.
Twelve beaches have moderate amounts, 47 have only very low quantities and 15 are completely free of sargassum.
