Citing a threat of the coronavirus from Mexico, the Trump administration banned hundreds of thousands of people from crossing the southern border. But in Mexican border cities, many are worried about the disease coming in from the other direction.
In this May 5, 2020 photo, workers in full protection gear as a precaution against the new coronavirus, unload a coffin that contain the remains of a person who died from the new coronavirus, in an area of the municipal cemetery set apart for victims of COVID-19, in Tijuana, Mexico.
Last week, Gama started feeling sick and returned to Mexico to be close to family. He was diagnosed with COVID-19, becoming one of the more than 1,700 confirmed coronavirus patients who make Tijuana second only to Mexico City in infections, despite the border city’s relatively small population. San Diego — with roughly the same population as Tijuana — has triple the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, at more than 6,000. The state of California has about 10 times as many people as the Mexican state of Baja California to the south — but reported more than 20 times the number of cases. Mexico has a notoriously low testing rate, but that alone seems an insufficient explanation.
Tijuana’s hospitals became swamped with suspected COVID-19 patients. Desperate relatives demanded information about their loved ones outside medical facilities. Nurses and doctors protested that they didn’t have the necessary protective equipment as the virus swept through their ranks. Meanwhile, California officials and hospital CEOs have expressed concern about people crossing the border to get treatment on the U.S. side. Last month, San Diego County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence asking the White House to send aid to help Mexico treat patients, citing increasing concern about the virus’s spread in northern Mexico.
The Trump administration this week extended its border restrictions for a month and, on paper, Mexico has imposed the same limits on nonessential traffic from the U.S. In reality, Mexican officials generally check only pedestrians for symptoms. Meanwhile, most commercial traffic, which is considered essential, and travelers like Gama, with rights to live and work in both countries, continue to cross in large numbers in both directions.
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