Some are resisting warnings to maintain healthy distance Social distancing is society’s foremost weapon against the coronavirus pandemic but while many in Mexico have heeded the call to keep their distance from each other, some have not. FULL STORY

Some are resisting warnings to maintain healthy distance

Social distancing is society’s foremost weapon against the coronavirus pandemic but while many in Mexico have heeded the call to keep their distance from each other, some have not. FULL STORY

Coronavirus

 Covid-19 threat failed to keep people away from the beach in Veracruz on the weekend.

Some are resisting warnings to maintain healthy distance

A Veracruz beach was busy on the weekend while nonessential businesses remain open in the capital

Published on Monday, April 6, 2020

• Full coronavirus coverage here

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Social distancing is society’s foremost weapon against the coronavirus pandemic but while many in Mexico have heeded the call to keep their distance from each other, some have not.

Young couples in parks and plazas in parts of Mexico City and México state are openly flouting the government’s “healthy distance” recommendations, according to a report by the newspaper El Universal, at least one beach in Veracruz remained busy over the weekend and customers at many street food stalls continue to chow down on snacks such as tacos and tortas while standing or seated cheek by jowl.

Those still using public transportation in the capital are finding buses and subway cars much emptier than usual but nevertheless cannot always maintain the recommended 1.5 meters of separation – or choose not to.

In a park in the eastern Mexico City borough of Iztacalco, one woman canoodling with her boyfriend told El Universal that she thought the social distancing measures put in place by the government were too extreme.

Identified only as Susana, the woman said that she didn’t know anyone with Covid-19 and that she believed it was a hoax.

“There’s no disease, they made it up … If there was a disease, I would already know someone who died,” she said before declaring “nothing will happen,” a remark that echoes the words uttered by President López Obrador in the first half of March when recommending that people continue hugging each other.

“They’re asking us to stay at home but we’re taking advantage of our free time to be together,” said Susana, who ironically shares her name with the cartoon superhero heroine, Susana Distancia (Your Healthy Distance), created by the government to help disseminate the social distancing message.

Over the weekend, many more people decided to defy the government’s order to stay at home and instead enjoy a day out at the beach in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. The newspaper Milenio reported that Playa Villa del Mar near the port city of Veracruz was packed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with both revelers and vendors offering products such as swimming suits, food and alcoholic beverages.

Although the federal government has ordered the closure of beaches to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, no municipal, state or federal security forces sought to enforce the rule at Villa del Mar on the weekend.

Municipal authorities explained that they didn’t have the authority to ask people to leave because Mexico’s beaches are classified as federal zones. The state government said that it would move people on from beaches but despite its stated intention failed to do so at Villa del Mar.

Back in the capital, some non-essential businesses – including hair salons, tattoo parlors, repair shops and car washes – have defied the government’s order to close in boroughs including Iztacalco, Iztapalapa and Coyoacán and many street vendors continue to ply their trade on the streets of the capital and in the México state municipalities of Toluca, Metepec and Zinacantepec.

Workers who spoke with El Universal said that they couldn’t afford not to work, a situation that makes strict social distancing measures less viable in Mexico than some other countries.

President López Obrador on Friday ruled out any possibility of implementing “draconian measures” such as a curfew to contain the spread of Covid-19, while he said two weeks ago that he wanted to avoid a complete shutdown of the economy because it would disproportionately hurt the poor.

However, the government declared a health emergency last Monday, suspending non-essential activities until April 30 and announcing sanctions for businesses that refuse to comply.

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp) 

No visitors: many communities restrict access to combat coronavirus Two Chihuahua municipalities have been warned that their actions are illegal

Communities restrict access to combat coronavirus Residents of indigenous communities across the country are starting to say no to visitors, closing off access to their towns in order to avoid Covid-19 outbreaks. FULL STORY

Coronavirus

 San Javier residents block the road into their community in light of the coronavirus emergency.

No visitors: many communities restrict access to combat coronavirus

Two Chihuahua municipalities have been warned that their actions are illegal

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Published on Saturday, April 4, 2020

• Full coronavirus coverage here

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Residents of indigenous communities across the country are starting to say no to visitors, closing off access to their towns in order to avoid Covid-19 outbreaks in areas with high concentrations of vulnerable people and few medical resources.

Residents of San Javier in the Baja California Sur municipality of Loreto came to a consensus to close off the town on Thursday, citing the high percentage of elderly people and a lack of medical supplies.

Local authorities said there were currently no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Loreto, and the citizens of San Javier are hoping their isolationist tactics will keep it that way.

In the south of the country, residents of San Juan Bautista Valle Nacional in northern Oaxaca voted by 80% to close the municipality off to outsiders to avoid contagion.

Mayor Rey Magaña García said that the vast majority of the municipality’s 53 communities voted to block access roads to all who are not residents, including relatives from other areas.

He also cited the risk to the municipality’s vulnerable population as a reason for taking the action, noting that Valle Nacional receives a lot of traffic moving between the state’s Cuenca del Papaloapan and Valles Centrales regions.

Restaurants in the municipality remain open, but only for take-out orders, tourist centers like the Monte Flor and El Zuzul swimming holes are closed and police are patrolling the river to ensure people aren’t gathering to swim.

Several communities in the Chiapas municipality of Ocozocuautla took similar measures to avoid Covid-19, blocking highways, closing tourist services and publicly requesting that people not visit.

In the north, authorities in two Chihuahua municipalities have been told by the state government that their decisions to close their towns were illegal.

Residents of Samalayuca formed brigades that began to stop and try to “persuade” visitors not to enter the municipality on March 26. Four days later, Mayor Javier Meléndez Cardona announced the all-out closure of access to anyone not from the 1,500-population town.

“Please don’t come,” he said on social media, adding that parks, tourism and other attractions were all shut down anyway. Samalayuca is known for its white sand dunes, waterparks, cave paintings and agricultural festivals.

A vehicle is checked on a highway in Samalayuca, Chihuahua.

The restriction applies only on weekends and will remain for the duration of the month-long emergency period.

Over 600 kilometers away, the municipal government of Urique, located in the famous Copper Canyon region, has prohibited outsiders from both entering and leaving the town.

Municipal representative Angélica Torres said that the decision aims to protect the town’s indigenous residents, who make up around 70% of its population.

“[Indigenous residents] are a bit more rooted in their customs and they don’t pay attention to whatever normal preventative measure we might tell them, like washing their hands, keeping their distance, sneezing into the arm,” she said of the threat the virus poses to them.

“They definitely don’t comply with these types of measures and the truth was that this was one of the situations we thought about most … that if there is contagion in the municipality, they’ll be the main ones affected,” she said.

Speaking to both the local community and tourists from across the globe, Torres pleaded with people not to visit the popular tourist destination during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

“We’re issuing this request to the community and to tourists in general not to come to our municipality for the wellbeing of our Rarámuri people, who are our most vulnerable population … [and] for the wellbeing of everyone,” said the local government in a statement.

“Please pardon the inconvenience. We’ll get through this crisis together,” it said, adding that the closure will be lifted on April 20.

A spokesperson for the state Ministry of the Interior, Alejandro Solís, said that both municipalities were alerted that their closures were illegal by state Interior Minister Luis Fernando Mesta Soulé on March 30.

“In the end it’s a crime to impede the transit of other people,” said Solís.

“We understand perfectly that the authorities are worried about their citizens, but … in this case they’re violating a [constitutional] right,” he said.

There is currently no effort at the state level to open up the communities, he said, as they are hoping the communication will be sufficient for the municipalities to make the decision to do so themselves.

Chihuahua had 11 confirmed cases of Covid-19 as of Friday, and the number of suspicious cases had dropped to 20. Oaxaca had 22 confirmed and 73 suspicious cases. Chiapas had 18 confirmed cases and Baja California Sur had 21.

Sources: El Sudcaliforniano (sp), NVI Noticias (sp), Cuarto Poder (sp), Pie de Página (sp)

Transmission of coronavirus accelerates; 2,143 cases as of Sunday The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Mexico had risen to 2,143 and deaths totaled 94, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell told a press conference on Sunday evening.

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/coronavirus/transmission-of-coronavirus-accelerates/

Transmission of coronavirus accelerates; 2,143 cases as of Sunday The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Mexico had risen to 2,143 and deaths totaled 94, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell told a press conference on Sunday evening. FULL STORY

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All beaches declared closed during emergency period The ruling comes just in time for Easter, when beaches are a popular destination

Coronavirus

 Beachtime has been deemed nonessential.

All beaches declared closed during emergency period

The ruling comes just in time for Easter, when beaches are a popular destination

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Published on Thursday, April 2, 2020

• Full coronavirus coverage here

The federal government has officially deemed beach tourism a nonessential activity, ordering state and local governments to close beaches in an attempt to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell told a press conference on Thursday that the closure order applies to every beach in the country until the end of the national emergency on April 30.

“The order has been given. It obliges state and municipal authorities to take coherent measures and suspend tourist activity on beaches, be it international or local tourism,” he said.

Other states had already begun to close beaches earlier this week, including Baja California Sur, Baja California and Oaxaca, where local authorities closed down the country’s only nudist beach, Zipolite.

Like beaches throughout Mexico, Zipolite is a big draw during the Semana Santa (Easter Week) vacation in April.

Authorities in Tamaulipas and Sonora had also begun to close beaches before the order, and Guerrero announced Wednesday that its beaches would be closed beginning Thursday.

“The state government makes this delicate decision in an unsatisfactory setting: we have had to choose between protecting life and suspending economic activity,” the state government said in a press release.

It said that the economy will always be recoverable as long as the human factor still exists and urged citizens to stay at home and practice other methods of social distancing.

It remains to be seen if there will be enforcement.

Authorities in the state have also canceled flights and cruises and closed hotels and other gathering places to avoid people assembling in groups.

Sources: AS (sp), El Financiero (sp)

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Coronavirus closes beaches in at least 3 states Mexico News Daily Held in February, Zipolite's Nudist Festival brings around 8,000 visitors to the 1 1/2-kilometer-long stretch of beach and boosts hotel business in the ...

Coronavirus closes beaches in at least 3 states Mexico News Daily Held in February, Zipolite's Nudist Festival brings around 8,000 visitors to the 1 1/2-kilometer-long stretch of beach and boosts hotel business in the ...

 Officials advise beachgoers in Baja California Sur that beaches are off limits.

Coronavirus closes beaches in at least 3 states

Mexico's only official nudist beach is among them

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Published on Wednesday, April 1, 2020

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Authorities in at least three states have announced beach closures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Baja California Sur closed every beach in the state, where municipal police will be responsible for ensuring that the closure is upheld. It could prove challenging during the normally busy Semana Santa (Holy Week) vacation in April.

In Baja California the municipal governments of Tijuana and Mexicali decided to close their beaches in order to avoid large gatherings of people.

Police patrolled the Playas de Tijuana beach area on Monday and urged citizens to leave at the order of Mayor Arturo González Cruz.

“I have decided to suspend all activities on the beaches of the region. … It’s important that citizens respect these measures for their protection,” said González.

The city of Mexicali is on the border with California, but the municipality extends far enough south to include the popular Gulf of California tourist destination San Felipe. It recently saw its number of cases rise from 14 to 20, leading Mayor Marina del Pilar to take the same action.

“We have seen how people have not been complying with isolation measures, and that’s why the contagion curve has been growing in our city,” said Del Pilar.

“It is therefore my obligation to introduce stricter measures. We’ve determined to close the tourist beaches of San Felipe, and install a patrol that will monitor [them],” she said.

In the south of Mexico, local authorities on the Oaxaca coast decided to close Zipolite, the country’s only nudist beach, due to the large number of tourists who usually visit during the Semana Santa holiday.

Many indigenous communities on the coast that offer tourist services like lagoon and mangrove tours and cabin stays have cancelled all tourist services completely.

Held in February, Zipolite’s Nudist Festival brings around 8,000 visitors to the 1 1/2-kilometer-long stretch of beach and boosts hotel business in the surrounding towns of Mazunte, Puerto Ángel, San Agustinillo and Pochutla.

Sources: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)

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