Coronavirus and Cd. Juárez Update March 15 2020

State of Chihuahua Announces Massive Events in Juárez Will Not be Suspended

This Would Endanger El Paso, Juárez, and Doña Ana County

New Mexico and El Paso Are Scapegoated in Official Statement

Coronavirus is a Regional Cross-Border Threat

Let's Hope Regional Cooperation is Going on Behind the Scenes

  

Just as New Mexico and Texas are beginning to show signs of waking up to the spread of coronavirus, after a serious delay in massive testing to locate the spread of the virus in the US and in Mexico, the state of Chihuahua has just punted, and in a way that could put New Mexicans and Texans, as well as juarenses, at risk.

 

Ramon Galindo Noriega, former mayor of Juárez and former federal Senator, announced yesterday in his capacity as the current sub-secretary of Social Development for the state, that he has orders, presumably from the Governor of Chihuahua, " to continue with the normal schedule, given that health officials evaluate the situation daily."  In effect, this means that the Feria del Mole today will take place in the Central Park, in the middle of the city, as well as other massive gatherings on Monday the 23rd and Saturday the 28th.

Galindo did leave the door open for cancellation: "We want to be very responsible and we are considering all options so as not to endanger peoples' health.  Dr. Arturo Valenzuela is who will inform us daily, and he will "indicate" when mass gatherings should be cancelled."

 

What is particularly irritating is this insinuation in an official statement:

 

"In spite of the epidemiological alert due to the closeness of positive cases of coronavirus Covid-19 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and El Paso, in Cd. Juárez state authorities have decided to maintain normal social activities."

 

What?  New Mexico has as of this morning (click here) tested 495 persons for coronavirus.  While NM should by now have tested at least ten times as many persons to begin to understand it's status, this appears from all public announcements to be far more than have been tested in Juárez, where all we know is that 6 persons who traveled to Covid-19 hotspots have tested negative, and I still can't find an answer to how many tests have been taken in El Paso.  We don't know who might be spreading the virus to whom.  But does it matter?  New Mexico, West Texas, and Chihuahua have every reason to cooperate in trying to contain the spread of coronavirus.  Just as New Mexico and El Paso have begun to seriously curtail mass gatherings, Chihuahua apparently takes a risky step backwards.

My hunch?  The Feria del Mole will not take place today.  The maquila industry will make a few calls to Governor Javier Corral.  Paso del Norte can't let the hateful statements of a weirdo president divide us when all of our regional interests coincide.  I also suspect that behind the scenes, officials in El Paso and Juárez are talking.  I just hope NM is in on these talks, too.