Pandemic Response: Mexico vs. USA

Our friends in the US have probably heard that things are getting bad in Mexico. Now living south of the border, it’s fascinating to see how the national media in the US cover Mexico. Whether it’s a cartel run amuck shooting and beheading innocent pedestrians or people keeling over in the street from Covid, the media typically refrains from adding context when it comes to its southern neighbor.

In fairness, Mexican media is also usually bereft of context when it comes to reporting on the US, but that doesn’t seem to matter so much in the Trump era. As we should have all learned over the last few years, what you see and hear is what you get with this White House, context not required.

The interesting thing, though, is that when it comes to the pandemic response, our governments and our societies have taken very similar approaches. And, I should point out, neither has worked very well. For those who don’t know, Mexico is divided into 32 states and the federal zone of Mexico City. Each state has a governor and legislature that pass and enforce laws. Like the US, some Mexican states are mostly rural, some are highly urbanized, but most have both urban and rural areas. Also like the the states in the US, Mexican states have had a large role to play in the pandemic response.

Also like the US, Mexico has a strong federal government dominated by a populist personality. In Mexico’s case, the president is Adres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). He is a left-wing populist known as a champion of the poor and an enemy of corruption. He is fond of making sweeping statements like collusion (corruption) in Mexico no longer exists. It’s a battle, he says, that his government has already won. He is also fond of calling the coronavirus the flu. And he does not like to wear a mask.

Another similarity between the two governments is that Mexico has an established bureaucracy that mostly takes the pandemic very seriously, and while humoring the leader, largely takes positive steps to counter it. This was especially true at the state level, where some state governments have effectively fought the rising viral tide. Their problem, however, is that they got little help or even moral support from a president who was not willing to let a mere global pandemic get in the way of his own agenda.

I’m guessing by this point the similarities appear striking. In both cases the responses were slow and lacking in conviction. Then, when the experts fought their way to the fore, pushing aside the deer-in-the-headlights politicians, things started to get done, especially at the state level. In fact, watching all of this from down here in little Puerto Aventuras has been more than a little surreal, almost as if we, in Mexico, purposefully set out to prove that copying the US response will yield a similar result. Science turned upside down.

So Mexico is almost exactly a month behind the United States. Infections and deaths are still rising in half the states, even beginning to spike in some that had heretofore been spared, and the federal government is insisting that state governments begin to loosen restrictions. Sound familiar? Some states, especially those governed by opposition parties, are taking it slow. If fact, to be fair, most states are being more cautious than AMLO wants them to be, so maybe, hopefully, we’ll fare a little better down here.

In Quintana Roo, home of Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, the pandemic has been taken very seriously. Lockdowns were enforced. Masks have been required. And, as one local doctor told us, we had the added advantage of all the tourists leaving in early March. Without tourists, he explained, many thousands of workers made their way back to their home villages, away from the coast. This helped dramatically with the enforcement of social distancing. It has also helped us, at least so far, come out of lockdown slowly. There just aren’t that many people here now. Combine this with warm sunshine, an outdoors lifestyle and limited use of air conditioning and Quintana Roo, so far, has been spared much of the ugliness of this new disease. The downside, however, is that the local economy is so dependent on tourists that, I’m afraid, we’ll be welcoming them back sooner than we should.

On the economic front, Mexico has taken a very different approach than the US, although the two presidents appear equally tone deaf. Rather than pump money into the economy by giving or loaning it to businesses and individuals, Mexico has gone all in for austerity. Unlike the rest of the world, AMLO insists on taking money out of an economy that was shaky before the pandemic even began. I think this has something to do with his fight against corruption, a noble goal but maybe not the most important thing during a worldwide catastrophe. It’s also a move, at least in my estimation, not unlike Trump chasing another tax cut when the poor are flat on their backs. Saving a guy who can’t afford food for his family a dollar or two on his payroll check isn’t a whole lot different than signing a multi-billion dollar contract with one of the richest men in the world to build a train through the jungle, when the local Mayans can’t afford to keep their roofs patched.

All in all, both Mexico and the US are likely to exit this calamity as case studies of how NOT to handle a pandemic. National leadership has largely failed and too many people died as a result. But in one area, I think Mexicans have dramatically outshined their neighbors. When all is said and done, one of the most valuable lessons we will have learned is the importance of the face mask. It not only provides the wearer with a barrier against infection, but, more importantly, it protects others from our own germs. This is especially true when we have a virus that can be passed by pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. In the US, the wearing of masks quickly became a political symbol, much like the virus itself. Pro-Trumpers flaunt their bare faces, while those who take the virus seriously cover up. In Mexico, however, people wear masks without complaint, or at least without punching retail clerks in the face.

On a deeper level, as Lydia points out, Mexicans of all ages, by wearing masks, are showing respect. Us older folks are often genuinely afraid of the virus, while younger people want to keep us from getting sick. That kind of generational care doesn’t seem to exist anymore in the US, where the attitude is more “if you’re afraid of the virus just stay home.” Both countries may have poor leaders who refused to give the virus its due, but the people of Mexico come out ahead on the humanity scale.

It’s been a very odd experience, one, I’m hoping at least, our kids and grandkids won’t have to live through again. And now, as the two countries open up, while still chasing infections, we, in Puerto Aventuras, are preparing for a low season with no expectations and a lot trepidation. When will the tourists come back and will we welcome them or shun them?

Post-Script: I finished this article yesterday, June 18, 2020, about the same time as an article was published in the Washington Post titled “Mexico’s President Has Given Up Fight Against Coronavirus,” which I read this morning. Also yesterday, an article appeared on CNN.com, I think, asking the question “has the Trump adminstration given up on the coronavirus.” Just saying…