Feb 9, 2022, Hi Mexico-loving friends!

Feb 9, 2022,

Hi Mexico-loving friends! Mexico appears to be hitting its peak of this latest wave of Covid and according to Hugo Lopez-Gatell Ramirez, the undersecretary of the health ministry and face of this fight against covid in Mexico, the country should start to see a decline in cases and hospitalizations in the coming weeks. The good news for the next two weeks is that there are no longer any states in the "red" of the covid traffic light system in the country. The bad news is that there are more states in the "yellow" and "orange" and a lonely four states in the "green."

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. Currently, red means the highest risk of covid and that hospitals are near capacity. It means that capacity at restaurants and hotels is lowered. In some places, it will mean that you will not be able to sit inside a restaurant at all, but only place an order for take-out (unless they have outdoor seating available). For the next two weeks, there will be no states in the red. 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. The federal government has given control to the state governments to decide how they implement these colors and what restrictions should be in place. These are the states that will remain in orange with a risk of possibly moving into the red because of continued increases in severe cases and hospitals becoming overrun. The states that are currently orange are Aguascalientes, Baja California, Durango, Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa; Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Zacatecas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, and Querétaro.  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 states currently in yellow are Baja California Sur, Mexico City, Mexico State, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Puebla, Oaxaca, Morelos, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, and Tabasco. 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 being taken, especially when going indoors. There are now four states currently in the green. The states that remain green are Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Chiapas and Campeche. You can view the full map on the government website here. Having said all of this, the day-to-day living in many of these states hasn't changed much between green and yellow or yellow and orange. As a tourist, you likely wouldn't even notice many changes except for those places that are now take-out only. That is why I ALWAYS suggest speaking to someone who is one the ground in the location you are planning to visit so that you can get a really clear picture of what "yellow" looks like in CDMX and what "orange" looks like in Los Cabos. I've listed contacts below for many of the most popular places in Mexico.

Other Covid-Related Mexico News

Carnaval in Mazatlan is still being debated. The governor of Sinaloa has recommended that it be postponed for the second year running. The final decision will be made Friday February 11th.  This is the best website to get the latest news in English about the Carnaval decision.  Colima has the highest number of active cases on a per capita basis with almost 600 per 100,000 people. Baja California Sur, which up until recently was ranking as the highest still ranks just second followed by Mexico City, Nayarit, and Tlaxcala.

Latest Mexico Content Around the Web

If you've been following along here for a while, you may know that each year while living in Mexico, I made a video about my current favorite "Top 10" places to live in Mexico. You can see my list in 2020 here and my top for 2021 here. Alex of Backpacking Brunette has continued that series with her "Top 11" places to live in Mexico, which includes a little cameo from yours truly, discussing one of my favorite places in Baja California Sur, La Paz. In March, I'll also be hopping onto a live Zoom chat with Alex and all of her Mexico Members to talk about why I think Baja California Sur is one of the best places to live in Mexico. I'm going to share my experiences as well as talk about some of the most popular (and a few less popular) spots around the state that you may want to consider for your move to Mexico. If that sounds like a conversation you'd like to be part of, head over to Alex's membership page to read more about it and I look forward to seeing you there on March 27th!

Expats & Locals Around Mexico

As always with Mexico, I highly recommend seeking out people who are currently living in the places that you want to visit. With Covid rules changing constantly and safety issues cropping up every now and again, only people who are on the ground there living it every day can share with you what's really happening. 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 information about what's going on in and around Puerto Vallarta, be sure to follow along with the Kinetic Kennons on YouTube. 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 state of Oaxaca. Trisha of PS I'm On My Way currently lives in Cabo San Lucas and can share some insights into what is happening there with you. Check out her website here. 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. Shelley of Travel Mexico Solo also shares her experiences in Merida and around the Yucatan. Her Instagram is a particularly good resource for what she's seeing at the moment. 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 Querétaro, follow Alex of the Backpacking Brunette. Vallarta Daily is the local English news there where you can learn about any changes in the situation in Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding Nayarit beach towns as well. Janine Around the World is traveling around the Riviera Maya at the moment sharing her experiences on her blog and Instagram. Riviera Maya News is the local English newspaper there where you can keep up with changes. I believe this is the region that is changing the most in regards to safety at the minute and if you plan to independently travel here (renting a car and exploring without tours or away from resorts), then I highly recommend speaking to someone who is there right now. The Mexican government's Coronavirus website is a huge resource for those that are currently living in Mexico and want to know more about what's happening in their state. 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 Mexico guides on my blog or have a search through my YouTube videos to help you plan your trip! I also have FOUR extensive guidebooks available for Baja California Sur (brand new and published in July 2021!), Mexico City (updated in late-2021 with tons of new content!), Merida, and Guanajuato! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email me by simply hitting reply on this email. Speak soon and safe travels, Laura