In Mexico, the Covid-19 disease is on the rise again. The fourth wave of infections of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, encouraged by the arrival of the Omicron variant, the one with the highest transmission to date, has already caused a decrease in the number of states in green color, which according to the traffic light epidemiological risk established by the federal health authority indicates unrestricted mobility.
Of the 28 entities, out of a total of 32, that ended 2021 in green, for the fortnight from January 10 to 23, only the following 19 will remain in that color: Campeche, Chiapas, Mexico City, State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Tlaxcala and Veracruz.
Starting today, 10 will be in yellow for the next two weeks, whose color indicates medium risk: Aguascalientes, Baja California, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Sonora, Yucatán and Zacatecas.
And to three the color orange, of high risk, will correspond: Baja California Sur, Chihuahua and Tamaulipas. No federal entity will yet return to the color red, of maximum risk.
“Infections have risen, please take care!” Is the alert message from the federal government health authorities to people in Mexico, as well as continuing to maintain respiratory disease prevention measures such as hand washing and maintaining the social distancing between individuals of 1.5 to two meters.
Hospitalization increases
According to the Information System of the IRAG Network of the Federal Ministry of Health (SSA), Aguascalientes, the state that returned to a yellow traffic light, was, until last Saturday, the one that registered the highest demand for hospital beds with mechanical ventilators for care for patients with difficulty breathing on their own (57.27% hospital occupancy).
Regarding general beds to care for Covid patients, Chihuahua, which went from yellow to orange, led the states with the highest hospital demand, with 55.35% occupancy, followed by Baja California (54.83%), an entity in the north of the country that returned from green to yellow, and Aguascalientes (50%).
rolando.ramos@eleconomista.mx