Long lines of people in the streets waiting to refill their oxygen tanks; ambulance sirens wailing on and on; and wisps of smoke rising from crematoriums in the dead of night, all point to an Epidemic raging in Mexico. In recent days, three of Mexico’s most powerful men have been infected with COVID-19, people gradually feel the coronavirus is everywhere.
The 67-year-old Mexican President Lopez is a left-wing populist. He told the world on Sunday that he had tested positive for COVID-19 with “mild symptoms” and was in quarantine.
On Monday, the son of Mexico’s richest man, Carlos Slim, told the public that his father had been infected with COVID-19 for a week and was being treated in hospital.
Before that, the 78-year-old retired Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, has been in intensive care since January 12 for COVID-19 infection.
The fact that three people representing Mexico’s traditional axes of power (political, commercial, and religious) were infected by the Wuhan pneumonia virus is a powerful reminder of how bad things have gotten in Mexico.
Currently, there are more than 150,000 published official COVID-19 deaths, the fourth highest in the world. However, officials acknowledge that the true number is much higher. Mexico has 274,486 more deaths of all types in 2020 than in a normal year, and health experts say the vast majority of these could be pandemic-related.
The current surge in cases appears to be linked to the Christmas holiday, before which many families gathered despite the advice of health authorities. Hospitals in several of the country’s major cities have been near capacity for several days, with many forced to turn away patients.
Some analysts say they hope that high-profile Mexicans who have contracted the disease are sounding the necessary alarm bells.
President Lopez tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday evening shortly after returning to Mexico City from a multi-country trip, following several meetings and two events he attended.
Citing unnamed sources within his government, local media said Lopez suffered flu-like symptoms on Saturday and was tested for COVID-19 the same day. There was much criticism of his decision to fly Home on commercial Mexicana the next day. Previously, Lopez had underestimated the risk of the virus.
Slim, the richest man in Mexico, has been a leader in the fight against the virus. He has pushed for an agreement to provide the vaccine on a large scale in Latin America, and his charitable foundation has been licensed by AstraZeneca to deliver 150 million doses of the vaccine to the region.
Slim was once considered the richest man in the world, although he currently ranks 21st on Forbes’ list of billionaires, with a fortune estimated at about $60 billion.
Rivera, who was once Mexico’s top Catholic leader, retired in 2017. A church spokesman said the former cardinal is on a ventilator in a Mexico City hospital and is in stable condition. But he added that Rivera has received his last religious rites.
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