What's Happening in Mexico Right Now?

 

Laura Bronner | Eternal Expat via n.convertkit.com	8:44 AM (13 minutes ago)
to me

Hi Mexico-loving friends,

I hope this email finds you well. There are a few changes to the covid-19 traffic light system across the country, especially in popular vacation spots like Baja California Sur, Yucatan, Mexico City, and Quintana Roo.

Traffic Light Changes

For those that are new around here, last year Mexico's federal government created a traffic light system to help businesses and people understand the risks of Covid-19 in each state around Mexico. It was then up to the state governments to decide how to interpret these traffic light colors.

Red means the highest risk of covid and that hospitals are near capacity. It has been interpreted in most states at total lockdown. This past Monday began the 16th straight week with no states in the red here in Mexico.

Orange is a level below red status and means that there is still a high risk of covid-19 and many restrictions are still in place, but for the most part, hotels, restaurants, and shops are allowed to be open with about 30% capacity (again this depends on the state's interpretation). Several states remain in orange with a risk of possibly moving into the red because of continued increases in severe cases and hospitals becoming overrun. States currently in orange include Baja California Sur, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Tamaulipas.

Read more about the rise in cases in Quintana Roo and Yucatan here.

Yellow means lower risk level and most places are allowed to have up to 50% capacity. States in yellow are allowed to have fans at sporting events and bars are allowed to be open (in some states clubs are also open in Yellow). Museums and other tourist attractions can be back open with restrictions. The biggest change to this is that Mexico City has moved back into the yellow due to an uptick in case numbers and a reduced capacity in hospital space. All of the states currently in yellow include Campeche, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Colima, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Veracruz.

For over a month running now, more than half of the country's states are in the green, a huge step for getting kids back to school this coming September. Green means that there is a very low risk of Covid, that many places can have more than 75% capacity and almost all services can resume. Precautions like masks and temperature checks are still taken, especially indoors. There is only one more state added to the list this week and that is Baja California. The states that are currently green in Mexico include Aguascalientes, Baja California, Chiapas, Coahuila, Durango, México state, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala, and Zacatecas

You can read more about these changes in this article.

Updates From the Road

I am still working on getting all of the videos edited and uploaded from our road trip around Baja California Sur. You can find the most recent videos here:

• AMAZING Island in Loreto
• Incredible Mexico Experience: Sleeping on a Sailboat in Bahia Concepcion
• Ultimate Relaxation in Loreto
• The Most Underrated Town in Baja California Sur

My Baja California Sur guidebook is ALMOST ready! I cannot wait to share it with you. As soon as it's ready, I'll be announcing it via this newsletter as well across social media, so keep your eyes out for that towards the end of the month!

I will also be changing up these bi-monthly newsletters starting in July. Since there aren't as many changes happening week-to-week in Mexico anymore and much of travel across the USA and Mexico has opened back up, I think a monthly update will be more than enough to keep you posted on what's happening around Mexico.

I will also be creating a new monthly newsletter where I will be sharing more personal stories of our travels and expat adventures. Things are changing quickly for us and we are about to embark on a very new and exciting adventure. For those that are interested in joining that newsletter, please simply click here and you will be added to that list!

Keep up with what's happening in other parts of Mexico

Mexico's traffic light system is ever-changing, as is the interpretation of these guidelines. It's impossible for me to know exactly how each state and indeed each municipality within these states is interpreting the traffic light system. So I highly recommend seeking out people who are currently located within the town or city in Mexico that you want to visit. Here are some of the people that I recommend following:

For updates about Mexico City, as always I recommend following Ubish Yaren on Instagram. You can also follow Anais of The Curious Mexican for updates on the restaurant and food scene in Mexico City and what is back open.

For updates about what's going on in Oaxaca, Susan of Brooklyn Tropicali has been sharing her updates of what's going on around the city and even more of Mexico as she begins traveling the country again (she was just in Mexico City for a month sharing so many great tips!).

For regular updates about life in Merida and around the Yucatan, check out Mexico Cassie who has also recently written a fantastic guide about Traveling Yucatan with Kids. The Yucatan Times is the local English newspaper in Merida that shares local updates and news reports.

To keep up with what's going on in and around Queretaro, follow Alex of the Backpacking Brunette.

Trisha of P.S. I'm on My Way regularly shares updates about life in Nayarit where she balances time between Nueva Vallarta where she lives and Sayulita where she works. Vallarta Daily is the local English news there where you can learn about any changes in the situation.

Claire's Itchy Feet is a great page to follow for updates about life in both Nayarit and Playa del Carmen where she splits her time. Riviera Maya News is the local English newspaper there where you can keep up with changes.

For updates about Acapulco, follow Raphael of Journey of Wonders.

As always, a great place to keep up to date with news about what's happening all over Mexico in English is Mexico News Daily.

Visiting Mexico Soon?

If you are planning a trip to Mexico soon, I hope you'll have a browse of the different locations on my blog to help you plan your trip!

I also have three extensive guidebooks available for Mexico City (updated this year with tons of new content!), Merida, and Guanajuato!

As always, you can find me most often on Instagram with daily updates and photos, but I also post very regularly on Facebook if you prefer following along there.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email me by simply hitting reply on this email.

Speak soon,

Laura