Chetumal Upgrades Its COVID-Risk Status
Rafael Angulo Aguilar
The Minister of Enterprise spoke about improving economic activity in the Free Zone. That business activity may slow down in the week to come. That’s because the Governor or Quintana Roo, Carlos Manuel Joaquín González, announced this week that starting Monday the state’s status would be switching from light-medium risk yellow to high-risk level orange. The change in status triggers increased restrictions in business openings and movement limitations. We reached out to a healthcare worker in Othon P. Blanco, Chetumal, to explain the adjustment’s significance.
Dr. Rafael Angulo Aguilar, Jesus Cumate Rodriguez Hospital, Quintana Roo
“Here in Mexico we work with traffic light system. We have green which is the optimum case, red is the most dangerous case, and right now here in Chetumal we are in yellow. What it means to be yellow? Yellow is before orange in our system, but yellow means that only thirty percent of all establishments are working right now. Yesterday, our governor, Carlos Joaquin, he transitioned us starting the eighth of February to Valentine’s Day, the fourteenth, from yellow to orange. So in a few days we are going to be with more limitations. The traffic light system that we have in Mexico is directly dependent on one thing and one thing only. The current hospital vacancy that we have. The more occupied by COVID patients that current central hospital of a particular geographical zone is, the higher the limits go. So right now in Othon P. Blanco, which is the municipality for Chetumal. We are at fifteen percent occupation. You could say that it isn’t very high but we don’t have the sufficient infrastructure to attend maybe a big part of the population. So right now what the governor wants and I think it is adequate is what we all need to do is to prevent.”
Schools, restaurants, gyms and malls will be closed and other businesses will be limited to thirty or fifty percent capacity. The orange status also means movement restrictions for residents.
