Tourists are returning in growing numbers to Puerto Vallarta despite indications that the Covid-19 infection rate is increasing and not flattening out.
On July 21, the resort registered a record number of confirmed cases for a single day – 62 – as well as four deaths. A day later, federal health authorities registered two more deaths, raising the total number of fatalities in Vallarta since the start of the pandemic to 100 – the fourth highest municipality in Jalisco behind metro-area cities Guadalajara, Zapopan and Tlaquepaque. The number of confirmed infections in Vallarta rose by 46, to 1,580 – representing 6.58 percent of the total in Jalisco (24,011).
Despite these troubling stats, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro, who met with Puerto Vallarta Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña this week, said that the strategy in the resort since the economic reopening has “gone well.” He noted the average daily infection rate in the resort since July 1 is 23, compared to 17 for the second half of June. Deaths have increased from 1.4 a day to 1.9, he said. These figures correlate to an increase in the virus’ transmission rate of around 30 percent, and while “anticipated,” they have “not skyrocketed,” the governor said.
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