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The number of Covid cases has steadily gone down since early in the year but, as expected, the summer travel season has caused a slight increase in cases, but despite the rise in infections, Cancun officials will not be reinstating restrictions as of right now. It was only a couple of months ago that the mask mandate for outdoor activities was removed and even more recently for the indoor mask mandate, following a major decrease in new infections and hospitalizations. Around the same time officials chose to keep the “traffic light” that was part of the Covid-19 monitoring system at green permanently, indicating a major decline in transmissions of the virus.
According to the Ministry of Health, there has been a 126.2 percent increase in Covid cases over the last 15 days alone, but the number of hospitalizations has not significantly increased, which is what has led to the decision not to reinstate protocols that were in place to protect the public. On May 27th a total of 370 cases of Covid were reported in the entire state of Quintana Roo, but only 17 of those infected were hospitalized. Just 15 days later that number jumped to 837 active infections of the virus, with 22 of those infected having to be hospitalized.
Although in a span of 24 hours 214 cases were reported, the number does not represent the whole story. According to the head of SESA, Alejandra Aguirre Crespo, cases have continued to stay on the milder side and hospital occupancy is still low. In a statement made to the public, she said that “There have been an increase in cases, but fortunately they are not serious. We have 1% hospital occupancy throughout the state, so they are indicators that give us readings that allow us to tell if we have to raise the alert level among the population.”
The organization gave no indication as to whether protocols might have to be reinstated later on, only that it is not necessary at this time. For now, in both indoor and outdoor spaces, the use of a mask is optional but encouraged in order to keep the number of cases low. This includes on public transportation, despite the fact that people are in very close proximity to each other.
Officials have partnered with the Ministry of Tourism to keep track of the number of cases among employees working in the tourism industry so that the rate of infection can be monitored. They stated that “If the population commits to using all these measures frequently, it is likely that we will not have cases, but if not, we will have a very marked promotion close in a vacation period.” It is safety measures such as masks, frequent hand washing, and social distancing that have led to the decline in infections and will continue to help keep the numbers down.
Recently the United States, which is where many Cancun tourists come from, has stopped requiring residents to test for Covid upon returning from Cancun. Furthermore, restrictions and mandates all over the world have been canceled as the rate of infection has dropped significantly. There has been an uptick in cases in the U.S. as well, but restrictions remain minimal in the country for the same reasons they are not being reinstated in Mexico.
The next round of tourists will mostly come from European countries, with millions expected to visit throughout the summer. Officials are curious as to how much the numbers will go up after having so many visitors pass through the Riviera Maya area in the coming months.
If tourists and locals continue to maintain safe practices there will likely not be any changes in protocols in the near future. Although the virus continues to hang around it is considered to be at an endemic level, rather than a pandemic now. With any hope, it will continue to stay that way so tourists won’t have to face the same restrictions that were in place last year.
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