Governments lie. We all know that. And if we did not know it before Covid-19, we certainly know it now. In speeches and in the news, our government leaders are always giving us the big picture of current events. It is the picture that they want us to see because it inevitably puts them in a more favorable light.
However, sometimes if we wish to have a more truthful representation, we have to look at the little picture. The little picture is what other people, such as our friends, neighbors, family, etc., tell us about how they, as individuals, are dealing with events in their country. This little picture is often more accurate.
One of the reasons why I began writing these posts on FaceBook and on my blog (www.timesofcoronavirus.com) was that in Spain, the government was saying one thing, whereas three of my children who were working on the front line, both in Madrid and Granada, were telling me something radically different.
This divorce between the official and personal versions of events seems not only to be true of Spain, but also of other nations throughout the world.
Thanks to Academia, I have friends in many countries, such as the UK, Brazil, France, Portugal USA, Mexico, etc. Their accounts of what is happening are often infinitely often more truthful than those of their respective governments.
Yesterday I received an email from a very dear friend of mine In Mexico, who is a professor at the University of Baja California. She vividly describes the nightmare that the people in Mexico are currently living. Wrapped up in the misery here in Spain, I had no idea that things were quite so bad in Mexico. The following paragraphs are excerpts from her email.
Dear Pamela,
Because Asia and Europe were hit first, Mexico had time to prepare for the pandemic. Instead, the President invited Mexicans to hug and kiss each other while the situation in Italy and Spain was going from bad to worse.
The medical community was advising social distancing, while the president insisted on going to huge meetings and on hugging and kissing children wherever he went. He thought that the pandemic would stop just because he said that it would.
And so, Mexico did not prepare, even though we had the time. So, when the first cases started to appear, nothing was done. Airports were open, and people traveling from Italy, Spain, the US and the rest of the world were entering the country without any type of screening.
It took almost two weeks for screening to be implemented in airports. However, by then, it was too late. Mexico City, Guadalajara, Cancun, and Monterrey were the first to have positive cases, but very quickly the whole metropolitan area of Mexico City was infected as well as other states in Mexico.
By mid-April, the cases in Baja California had begun to rapidly multiply. This was hardly surprising because both San Diego and Imperial County also had many cases. Our borders were open and you know how binational travel works.
It took a few days for both countries to close the border to non-essential travel (whatever that means). US citizens and green card holders are permitted to cross the border US bound, but Mexican citizens are not. This has certainly reduced border crossings, but still people come and go.
Between the first and second weeks of April, Covid-19 cases soared, both in Tijuana and Mexicali, but somehow the cause of death was atypical pneumonia (not Covid.19). Merely because there were no tests available, the cause of death was never Covid but something else.
By mid-April the governor of Baja California finally decided to speak up. He said that hospitals did not have the necessary equipment to protect medical professionals. In hospitals, healthcare personnel were testing positive. This was corroborated by many videos that recorded doctors and nurses saying that they were obliged to work without protective gear.
Public figures started protesting though the federal government still denied that anything was wrong. However, finally the government was forced to send some more of the urgently needed gear, even though it took a while, and it is still not enough.
Fortunately, the community acted faster than the government. For the last 20 days, we have been campaigning to provide healthcare personnel with what they need. Here in Mexicali we are collecting money from everyone who wants to help.
A hospital spokesperson tells us what they need, and we provide the equipment in record time. We started with masks, gloves, goggles, overalls, shoe protectors, and then moved up to TV monitors, walkie-talkies, etc. This is done by donations via Facebook and WhatsApp. People make a deposit, and the money is used by hospitals to directly buy equipment.
The economy is also hitting our region very hard. The government decreed that all non-essential businesses had to close. Most have done so, though some have continued to operate. The government looks the other way when it is convenient for them to do so.
Mexican economy is unfortunately based in informal work. There are many people that work without social security. No one really knows how many there are. The fact that there are so many families without income has generated an array of adverse situations.
The federal government is not giving much help. The president has declared that no financial relief will be given to businesses, because businesses are wealthy. However, most of them are small (5 -20 employees), and so they will probably not be able to survive. Additionally, the federal government has forbidden businesses to fire employees or to stop paying their salaries.
However, a reality check is badly needed. How are businesses supposed to keep their employees with full pay if they are closed and have no income? My friend Alicia is a hairdresser. She has 7 girls working in her salon. I spoke to her three weeks ago. She said she could keep them on full pay for two weeks, but she would not be able to do more than that.
According to the updates on the news we have over 22,000 cases and 2,000 deaths. However, we still don’t have enough tests, which means that the real numbers are much higher. Incredibly, yesterday the president stated that the curve is now low, and that we are doing very well.)
I don’t know how he thinks people will believe them, especially when they see their neighbors, friends, and family being carried off to the hospital to die. Of course, as long as they die of atypical pneumonia, they do not die of coronavirus. So, all is well. I very much doubt that the president’s state of mind is stable.
Un fuerte abrazo,
XXXX
This is the chilling picture of Mexico in Times of Coronavirus. It is the “little picture”, of course, but one that portrays a reality that the Mexican government seems to have turned its back on. The question is how many coronavirus deaths does it take before a government can no longer ignore them. In Spain, that number was about 25,000, and in the USA, that number has still not arrived. Hopefully, Mexico will wake up sooner.
