Mexico’s COVID-19 Traffic Light Monitoring System: News for April 26–May 9, 2021

After weeks of improving pandemic conditions in Mexico—since March 2021, none of Mexico’s 32 states has been classified in red status, the strictest tier of the federal government’s four-tiered COVID-19 traffic light monitoring system—there has been a slight regression in the epidemiological trend.

In this report, the traffic light system reveals a tightening of restrictions in response to a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases: 6 states are now in green status (compared to 8 in the previous report for April 12–25, 2021); 20 are in yellow status (compared with 19 in the previous report); and 6 are in orange status (compared to 5 in the previous report). As before, no states are in red status.

Federal and state authorities continue to urge the public to exercise caution and comply with public health measures and safety and hygiene protocols.

Mexico’s twice-monthly monitoring system, implemented in June 2020, is used to alert residents to the spread and epidemiological risk of COVID-19 and to guide restrictions on activity in each of the country’s states.

Below is a map for the period of April 26–May 9, 2021, indicating the COVID-19 risk level in each state.

This chart presents the traffic light status of each state, and, as applicable, variations between federal and local traffic light statuses based on publications of the federal Ministry of Health and status reports provided by each state.

According to federal health data, as of April 26, 2021, there had been an estimated 2,516,905 cases of COVID-19 infection and 215,113 deaths due to COVID-19 in Mexico since the pandemic began; 1,853,789 people had recovered from COVID-19 illness; and 5,917,676 people had been completely vaccinated against COVID-19.

Hospital occupancy rates remain stable: 87 percent of general hospital beds are available, and 83 percent of ventilator beds are available. In addition, no state has a hospital occupancy rate greater than 50 percent of capacity.

Other News

Employers doing business in Mexico may want to note two significant developments that may affect their operations:

• On April 23, 2021, the reform to the labor-subcontracting regime was published in the evening edition of the Official Gazette of the Federation, establishing a new operating mechanism for labor outsourcing in Mexico.
• Also on April 23, 2021, Mexico City’s government determined that private corporate offices could return to on-site work with a maximum capacity of 20 percent in compliance with standard sanitary measures, and it established an obligation for such work centers to administer, at their own expense and on a weekly basis, rapid antigen tests or reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, to at least 20 percent of the personnel working on-site.

Ogletree Deakins will continue to monitor and report on developments with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic and will post updates in the firm’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Center as additional information becomes available. Important information for employers is also available via the firm’s webinar and podcast programs.