Covid showed the weakness of the health system: experts

As soon as resources such as the vaccine appear, what must be done is to ensure that the majority of the population acquires the vaccine and not this absurd iron control of the vaccine at the government level that prevented many people from getting vaccinated as soon as possible possible”.

Malaquías López, UNAM academic.

Yesterday afternoon, May 9, the decree terminating the health emergency due to Covid-19 was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation. At three years, the high number of deaths, the lack of joint efforts between state and federal governments; the lack of investment in health matters, among other factors, showed that the country could have a better management of the pandemic, experts said.

Malaquías López, an academic from the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said that, based on national and international consensus, the federal authorities carried out a “very bad” response to the health emergency.

The doctor pointed out that the government should have, since the emergence of the virus in the country, stop the serial infections; monitor as closely as possible and take sensible measures.

“For example, this matter of confining people to their homes, if it is decided, then it must be propped up (…) two, as soon as resources such as the vaccine appear, since what must be done is to ensure that the greatest part of the population acquires the vaccine and not this absurd iron control of the vaccine at the government level that prevented many people from getting vaccinated as soon as possible, ”said the UNAM academic.

For his part, Miguel Ángel Karam, an academic at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico and collaborator of the Verified program of the United Nations, mentioned that Covid-19 demonstrated “the situation of inequality in health ; all the lack of investment that for decades it has failed to have in matters of hospital infrastructure and the lack of serious prevention and health promotion programs”.

Lastly, both specialists agreed that there is a possibility that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could again be a national and international health emergency due to the mutation of the virus.

virus ravages

According to data from the federal government, from February 2020 to May 8, 2023, 7,595,863 infections have been registered, of which 10,167 more cases were active until yesterday.

The federal Ministry of Health (SSA) has confirmed 333,961 people who lost their lives from Covid-19, while 650,602 excess deaths registered between 2020 and 2022.

In the case of the total confirmed cases, 53.62% have been detected in women and 46.38% in men.

By age, the group with the most confirmed infections is between 25 and 29 years of age (934,456). Behind, is the group between 30 and 34 years (906,946) and between 35 and 39 years of age (829,719).

The entities with the most infections, per 100,000 inhabitants, are CDMX (20,998); Baja California Sur (16,217) and Colima (9,173).

In deaths, more than half of the 333,972 deaths have been men (61.53%) and 38.47% in women.

The entities with the most deaths are CDMX (489.95); Baja California Sur (347.08) and Baja California (344.63). In contrast, those with fewer cases are Michoacán (187.78); Oaxaca (155.20) and Chiapas (42.82).

As of May 8, nine municipalities had a 100% saturation in general beds (Coacalco; San Pedro Mixtepec; Tlajomulco; Tláhuac; San Pedro Pochutla; El Marqués; Metepec; Córdoba; Puerto Vallarta).

While Amanalco, in the State of Mexico, is the only one that reaches 75% saturation in beds with a fan. (With editorial information)

Chronicle of the advance of the virus

• In February 2020, the first case of Covid-19 in Mexico was confirmed, in the capital of the country.
• In March 2020, the SSA reports the first death in the country.
• The National Sana Distancia Day is launched to reduce infections.
• In April 2020, it was decreed that the virus spreads rapidly. Hospitals are saturated.
• In November 2020, Mexico exceeds one million infections.
• In December 2020, the first vaccines against Covid arrived in the country.
• In January 2021, 32,729 deaths were registered; the month with the most cases since the pandemic began.
• Hospital occupancy shoots up to its highest level and reaches 24,297 hospitalizations per day.
• President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is infected for the first time.
• In December 2021, the first case of the Omicron variant was detected in Mexico, declared as “of concern”.
• In June 2022, the inoculation of girls and boys from 5 to 11 years of age begins in 8 states.
• In December 2022, the sixth wave of Covid-19 is decreed.
• On Tuesday, May 9, the end of the health emergency in the country was reported at the presidential conference.

politica@eleconomista.mx