Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro says he is prepared to order an immediate lockdown curtailing most activities in the state for two weeks if the coronavirus curve continues to spike.
Although Jalisco is by no means the worst affected state in Mexico, the average number of daily Covid-19 infections registered in the past week runs at more than 530, he noted on Tuesday of this week, while one-quarter of all fatalities from the virus (917 in total) in Jalisco have been documented in the last eight days.
Alfaro said the drastic lockdown measure, which he calls a “botón de emergencia” (emergency button), will be taken if the state’s Covid-19 hospitalization capacity surpasses 50 percent (it is currently at 26 percent), or if the infection rate goes over 400 people per million (it is currently at 260).
If implemented, the isolation measure would be tougher than in the first days of the pandemic, Alfaro said. All economic activity would essentially stop. Only food production, food retail outlets and health services would be allowed to open. Nonessential industry and business, government offices, restaurants, banks, stores, tianguis, churches, etc. would have to cease operations, and all public spaces and parks would be closed off. Public transport will run but only for health and security personnel.
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