The Ministry of Health (SSa) reported this Thursday, May 14, that the accumulated COVID-19 infections in Mexico are 42,595, 2,409 additional cases recorded today. Furthermore, since the beginning of the epidemic, Mexico has suffered 4,477 fatalities, adding 257 new deaths today.
In Puerto Vallarta, five new cases were reported today, bringing the total of cases to 121. One more death in the city was also recorded today, bringing the total of deaths for Puerto Vallarta to 12 since the beginning of the pandemic. Puerto Vallarta has only tested 483 people in the past 60-days, just in the past 24-hours, only 10 new tests were processed in the city.
The plan to return to normality throughout Mexico was presented this Wednesday by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and by the Secretary of Economy, Graciela Márquez, reported that a special number of municipalities, called “Municipalities of Hope” will be those that can return to normal within the next 15 days under strong review to avoid the possibility of regrowth.
The “Municipalities of Hope” are the localities that have not presented positive cases of COVID-19 and whose neighboring municipalities do not present cases of the disease either. Most of these municipalities are located in the states of Sonora, San Luis Potosí, and Oaxaca. These three states also happen to be among the states who have processed the least COVID-19 tests in the country.
It will be May 18 that these municipalities will return to normal, it is estimated that there will be around 269 localities that belong to 15 states of the Republic. The main activities that will return to normal will be work and school, always with the revision of the traffic light presented by the federal authorities, where it is indicated that the return will be done gradually.
“Chances are, never. We must get used to a new normality that implies knowing how to live with an infectious agent, such as SARS-CoV-2 that produces a disease of individual and collective importance (…) we must adapt,” was the answer from the Undersecretary of Health when asked when the Mexican people could return to normal life.
There is still confusion within the government and their messaging about what businesses can open, when, and where.
On Wednesday, government officials announced the reopening of manufacturing on Monday, May 18. On Thursday they removed the announcement and replaced the opening of manufacturing for June 1.
While the government has issued plans, they have also insisted that States have control over whether to follow the recommendations of the federal government or implement their own guidelines for reopening local economies.
