The massive infections of coronavirus Public health personnel have opened a new front for the Mexican health authorities amid the pandemic. While the eyes were on Monclova —Where there have been more than thirty cases and three deaths— or in Tlalnepantla —Where 19 positive diagnoses are recognized—, the largest outbreak in the country has gone practically unnoticed. The 26 clinic in Cabo San Lucas, a small tourist town more than 4,000 kilometers by land from the capital, registered 42 infections among its employees on Wednesday, without any mention having been made in daily conferences about the advance of the virus until then. nor in the national press.
After what massive contagion uncoveredHospital doctors and nurses have asked for help and donations from the population to face the pandemic. “We are dealing with the coronavirus by vocation, love of work and professionally without the necessary safety equipment,” reads a publication posted on social media.
On Wednesday, authorities admitted that there were more than 60 positive cases in hospitals in the central and northern region of the country, including those in Cabo San Lucas, and a week after the case was disclosed in the northern city of Monclova. The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), to which these hospitals belong, has resisted cataloging the cases as “hospital outbreaks” and has assured that the sources of infection are not related to the lack of materials, although it has recognized that there are 329 infected Covid-19 healthcare workers nationwide.
“Derived from the epidemiological investigation carried out, it was concluded that ‘patient zero’ occurred outside the hospital with a worker from the administrative area,” the IMSS said in a statement and has released images where the affected sites are cleaned and materials are delivered. . “The staff with Covid-19 never had direct contact with suspicious patients,” added the institution, which has more than 12 million members and 4,000 medical units in the country.
The workers have responded that there are nurses and stretcher-bearers who have symptoms of coronavirus, but who have continued to work because they do not meet the operational definition to confirm their cases. They also require that tests be applied to all employees who remain asymptomatic and accuse negligent management of the institution, according to the local press.
Two days before the massive contagion was announced, it was announced that the 26 clinic in Cabo San Lucas had the capacity to focus on coronavirus patients and that it would be a referral hospital. In recent weeks, several groups of citizens have organized to collect materials for the hospital. The local IMSS delegation cataloged the calls as “false information” and said that the inputs they had were sufficient, although they later deleted the publication. “The colleagues of the IMSS need your support, which is provided is insufficient,” insist the calls.
The four cases of massive contagion known in Mexico seem to be parts of the same movie. Hospital staff complain of insufficient resources. The IMSS denies it. Weeks later there are dozens of infections in health centers. And finally, the authorities carry out damage control, do not give further explanations and point out that the sources of infection occurred outside the hospitals or due to carelessness of their personnel. “The problem has been minimized,” warned this week a doctor from Tlalnepantla who requested anonymity. “Hopefully the problem was this hospital, I think the problem is the IMSS,” he said.
After breaking the barrier of 3,000 confirmed cases this week, Mexico has bought 5,000 ventilators and more than $ 56 million in medical supplies from China, and has also asked the United States 10,000 more fans to bridge the fissures in your health system. On the ground, the doubts of the personnel in the first line of combat against the pandemic persist.
A parallel count calculates at least twice as many infected in the Tlalnepantla hospital
The number of workers who got infected with Covid-19 at the 72 clinic in Tlalnepantla is at least 42 confirmed cases, more than double the 19 infections that the IMSS has recognized, according to a count prepared by hospital doctors. The document, to which EL PAÍS had access, establishes that there are 60 other workers isolated or classified as suspects by the institution itself.
“Most have been infected in the hospital and many continued working because they did not want to apply the tests,” says a doctor who asks that her name be omitted. The specialist sent documents and photographs to support the count, which includes 18 residents, 10 doctors, six nurses, five interns and three auxiliary workers. This newspaper asked the IMSS for an update on the data it presented on Wednesday, but received no response.
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