Politics: Ambiguous, erratic handling of Covid-19

MEXICO - Report 06 Apr 2020 by Guillermo Valdes, Alejandro Hope Pinsón and Francisco González

Time will tell whether or not the results of the Mexican government’s unique coronavirus strategy, which relies on disease modeling combined with highly selective testing and targeted responses, will deliver positive results or something more akin to Italy’s nightmare. However, its implementation and the specific role President López Obrador has played have made it the subject of intense debate.

The president's downplaying of the whole issue, his personal centralization of decision-making, and his ideologically driven aversion to private sector motives as well as to social distancing have sidelined businesses and other key civil society actors at a time when their expertise and support are desperately needed. Furthermore, like his US counterpart, the Mexican president is prone to contravene his own policy experts. Just as he continues to contradict his economic policy leaders even as Mexico heads deeper into recession, so he appears at odds with Deputy Health Minister Hugo López Gatell, a Johns Hopkins University doctoral graduate and epidemiologist who cites lessons learned in Mexico’s 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak to defend the country's strategy. But when this official government coronavirus spokesman was asked in mid March about the contradiction between official social distancing recommendations and AMLO’s insistence on continuing to kiss and hug supporters and babies at public appearances, he was reduced to incoherent justifications involving the president’s moral fortitude. Such confusion and the halting evolution of official policy, including the decision at that time to allow a pop-rock festival in Mexico City to proceed for which more than 115,000 people turned out, added to a sense of public disorientation, even at a time when many voices were demanding stricter measures, and some federal and subnational officials were trying to take initiatives of their own.

It will take a while to get a clearer picture. As of April 5 the authorities had reported 2,143 confirmed cases and 94 deaths, levels that are dwarfed by those of Italy, Spain, and even the neighboring United States. But many have questioned the accuracy of Mexico’s data.

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