Mexico’s COVID-19 Traffic Light Monitoring System: News for July 19–August 1, 2021

During the pandemic, Mexico’s federal government has used a four-tiered biweekly traffic light monitoring system to alert residents to the epidemiological risks of COVID-19 and provide guidance on restrictions on certain activities in each of the country’s states. The federal government is currently evaluating the factors for measuring the epidemiological traffic light system, first implemented in June 2020, and, accordingly, the government has not issued the federal-level report for the period of July 19, 2021, through August 1, 2021.

Although the federal government has temporarily suspended traffic light monitoring system updates while evaluating risk criteria and measurement parameters, Mexico’s states are still releasing their own status reports. Currently, none of the states are in statewide red status, at which point only essential activities are allowed. Some of the states have imposed different statuses per region and for periods shorter than biweekly, such as Baja California, where Mexicali is in yellow status from July 19, 2021, through July 25, 2021, while the rest of the state is in green status for the same period. Per federal guidelines, yellow status indicates that all work activities are allowed, but there may be some restrictions, such as capacity limitations in public places. Five states, including Aguascalientes, Michoacán, Sonora, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz, impose traffic light statuses for districts or municipalities. In Veracruz, 4 of the state’s 212 municipalities are in red status.

Below is a map for the period of July 19, 2021, through August 1, 2021, indicating the COVID-19 risk level in each of the states and the capital.

This chart presents the traffic light status of each state based on status reports provided by each state.

The federal government reported that as of July 16, 2021, nearly 37.8 million people had been vaccinated against COVID-19, representing 42 percent of the population over 18 years of age.

Mexico City

The Monitoring Committee of Mexico City has determined that the capital is in yellow status, where it has been since June 25, 2021. Because the committee did not indicate the percentage of capacity allowed for on-site return to private corporate offices, employers may want to follow federal guidelines and limit on-site operations at 50 percent of capacity, complying with sanitary measures and performing, on a weekly basis, rapid antigen tests or polymerase chain reaction RT-PCR tests for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, for at least 20 percent of the personnel who are working on-site.

Finally, the verification visits by the Administrative Verification Institute and other Mexico City governmental authorities will continue to monitor compliance with general and specific sanitary measures for workplace health protection. Authorities may impose fines and/or total or partial temporary suspensions of work centers for up to 15 calendar days in cases of noncompliance.

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.