COVID-19’s Sanitary Guidelines Change

The past week the government published an update on Mexico’s sanitary guidelines for COVID-19. Face masks are no longer mandatory for closed spaces, for example. 

Among the new guidelines, the use of disinfectant mats has been reaffirmed to be unnecessary since there is no evidence that this practice yields any positive results. Negative COVID-19 tests are no longer obligatory if employees are to return to work and must be paid for by employers if this is a measure. Considering the prevention of the virus, washing hands frequently and keeping a safe distance is still advised. Vaccination is not obligatory, although it is recommended. The government said that by combining all of its recommendations, people have the best chance to avoid getting ill.

Other Latin American countries have also lifted the mandatory use of face masks this year. Many countries have adopted this measure as a result of their high vaccination coverage and a desire to return to “normal.”

Most of the research supporting the use of face masks has been conducted under laboratory conditions, but a study conducted by The California Department of Public Health broke that trend. The department compared groups of people getting either infected or not by COVID-19 and their face mask use, finding that “the odds of infection were about half for people who reported wearing a mask in public compared with people who did not... For people who wore masks “all of the time,” instead of “some of the time” or “most of the time,” the estimated effect was even more significant.” The type of masks was also a factor included in the study, which found that N95 and KN95 masks reduced the odds of infection. Although the number of participants in the study was small, this was one of the first studies that tested the effectiveness of face masks in real-life circumstances.

However, back in September, Mexican epidemiologist Hugo López-Gatell emphasized that there is not enough scientific evidence to conclude that periodic vaccination is necessary for COVID-19 at a Panamerican Health Organization (OPS) conference. The Ministry of Health announced in September that about six million COVID-19 vaccines expired, losing 2 percent of total vaccines received by then, although the ministry highlighted that this loss was expected. 

This past Wednesday, Mexico received the last unit of vaccines from Covax as part of the country’s contract with the UN. According to Our World in Data, as of Oct 7, 2022, 63.5 percent of the world’s population is vaccinated, with about 12.84 billion doses handed out.