COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico: The Response and Reopening

• Published in: Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness 2022-07, Vol.16 (6), p.1-2266
• Main Authors: De La Cruz-Hernández, Sergio Isaac, Álvarez-Contreras, Ana Karen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Economic activity; Epidemics; Letter to the Editor; Pandemics; Public health; Severe acute respiratory syndrome
• ISSN: 1935-7893; 1938-744X
• DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2022.177

Despite the fact that the COVID-19 outbreak began in China, this country applied its experience with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) allowing a rapid response to this public-health emergency. 1 Thus, in January 2020, the country imposed strict measures such as home quarantine, traffic restrictions, travel bans, cancelation of public activities, postponement of festivals, the use of face masks in public, and the extension of winter break; thus, the return to work and school reopening were postponed. 2,3 After applying these measures, the epidemic curve decreased and remained flat until the end of 2021, with China being one of the countries with the fewest daily new cases and deaths from this disease in the world (Figure 1). 4,5 On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic was not handled properly in some American countries; for example, after two months of confinement, the United States decided to reopen its economic activities, despite the fact that the epidemic curve had not flattened. 6 A similar situation occurred in Brazil, where this country relaxed its restrictions without considering that the number of COVID-19 cases was increasing. 7,8 Unfortunately, these countries lost control of their pandemics and became, along with India, 9 the countries with the highest number of cases and deaths caused by this disease in the whole world (Figure 1). 4,11 This hasty decision was counterproductive, because the number of daily new cases and deaths continued to rise during the following months of 2020, and the health system collapsed due to the new waves of COVID-19 caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 variants that appeared during 2021 (Figure 1).