Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – In a July 7 message via his social networks, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said that if the number of new coronavirus cases in the state continues to grow, an “emergency button” plan will be activated that would bring all activities to a ‘dead stop’ for 14 days.
In his video message, the Governor said that the change in strategy was necessary after the average number of daily infections in the last week rose to 536. “We have been at more than 1,600 active cases for three weeks; 25% of the 867 deaths in the state occurred in the last week,” he said.
Given this, and the wear and tear on medical personnel, Alfaro indicated that the Jalisco Health Bureau decided to implement an emergency button mechanism, which will have two indicators for eventual activation, saturation of the hospital system and incidence rate by date of onset of symptoms.
The emergency button and the “dead stop” would be applied if the first indicator, of saturation of the hospital system, reaches 50%. On July 7, it was at 26%.
It would also be activated if the second indicator, of incidence, reaches 400 cases per million inhabitants. On July 7, it was at 290.
In the video, Governor Alfaro warned that it is up to all citizens to do their part to prevent the activation of the ‘Emergency Button’ plan.
“The economic reactivation of Jalisco is going well, but continuing to move forward depends on the actions of citizens. If the dynamics of the pandemic that Jalisco has experienced in recent days is maintained and people still do not understand the level of risk posed by breaking the confinement and taking to the streets, which impacts the mobility of the city and threatens the lives of hundreds of Jalisco residents, the state government will have to bring ALL activities to a dead stop by means of the emergency button,” he said.
“By saying ‘dead stop’ we mean more drastic measures than the ones we took in the first stage of social isolation. This would mean shutting down all industry, commerce and services. Only the operation of health, security and food supply services would be maintained,” the Governor explained.
“In this period of total confinement, restaurants would not be allowed to operate, not even for home delivery. There would be no public transportation service, other than for health and security personnel. Banks, churches, government offices, shops and shopping malls would not be allowed to operate. Only markets and self-service stores could open during the week, and only for food sales,” he added.
Regarding the creation and application of the Emergency Button, Alfaro Ramírez added that this new strategy is based on the projections of the Health Board in light of the relaxation of preventive measures by the population and the failure to follow health protocols by businesses and companies that were allowed to open at the start-up stage of the Jalisco Plan for Economic Reactivation.
“We are at a key moment. By acting responsibly, we can keep moving forward instead of having to stop our economy again. Jalisco needs all of us, we cannot fail,” Governor Enrique Alfaro emphasized.
Source: jalisco.gob.mx
