“COVID-19 infections increase due to economic opening”, says Alejandro Guerrero, infectious disease specialist.
MÉRIDA, Yucatán (La Jornada Maya) – “We see an increase in cases of SARS-CoV-2 because people are leaving more often and in greater numbers. Also, the opening of non-essential businesses, and if the tourist season opens, without taking into account the cases of the last few days, it will be a disaster; there will be no more beds.” Alejandro Guerrero Flores, an infectious disease specialist at the Regional Hospital of the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSTE), explains.
The specialist assured that, in the current panorama, if the measures of “stay at home” during the summer are relaxed, the cases are going to shoot up. “There was an increase in cases of mobility due to the rains. It worries me what will happen if there is mobility due to access to the beaches and the coasts”.
He recalled that the “normal” thing during each year of vacation was people going to stay in their beach house during the week, “but now we are not in the normal thing that is what the population and the authorities have to understand; they want to sell us the idea that this is new normality, but it is not the same as before. The new normality is not to go to the beach, not to go for a walk, even if you have a house on the coast”.
“We are not going in an antivirus bubble, we are moving and carrying the virus, so here the problem has to be very well thought out, decided by decision-makers, economic, political, health because mobility is going to be the risk,” he warned.
He considered that if we continue in quarantine, the curve could be flattened by the end of September. “If mobility is allowed, there will be a peak, and the curve will not flatten. I do not know when if holiday mobility is opened. We cannot go back to how it was last year. Go to the beach, to Sisal, to Celestun, and authorities say they are already thinking about opening the archaeological areas; some things have to be thought about and meditated on very well”.
Guerrero Flores pointed out that a few days ago, an increase in the number of infections was reported due to the obligatory mobilization during tropical storm Cristóbal. “Many people had to leave their homes, that explains in part why inadequate measures were taken. If I’m flooded, maybe I’ll go out without my mask. However, the most important explanation is we passed to “orange light” instead of remaining on red. It made people think it was ok to get out”.
He acknowledged that there is a lot of need, “but you have to try to balance need and health safety, and some will ask if we are going to be like this for another year. It’s not what I think. It’s what we have to prevent: a disease with no treatment, no vaccine, that spreads so easily, that in a particular population it’s severe, even in young people.
He pointed out that this epidemic highlights all the social and economic inequalities in society.
COVID-19 in Yucatan
Yesterday, Saturday, June 27, the Yucatan Ministry of Health’s report detected 177 new infections of coronavirus.
103 in Merida,
13 in Valladolid,
11 in Uman,
7 in Kanasin,
5 in Tizimin,
4 at Hunucma, Progreso and Temozon,
3 in Baca, Dzemul and Ticul,
2 in Kinchil, Tekax and Xocchel, and
1 in Buctzotz, Chocholá, Dzilam González, Homún, Izamal, Kaua, Maxcanú, Samahil, Tekal de Venegas, Tetiz and Yaxkukul.
In total, there are already 4,018 positive cases and 11 new deaths.
