After only two weeks of semáforo naranja (orange traffic light), as of yesterday, the federal government ordered the State of Oaxaca back to semáforo rojo (red traffic light) in the ongoing battle with Covid–19.
To tell the truth, the move to orange had many of us scratching our heads. Closely following the data released by the state health department, we wondered if Oaxaca really was experiencing a downward trend in the four metrics used to move from one traffic light to another: numbers of new cases, hospital occupancy trends, current hospital occupancy, and percentage of positive cases.
As for cubrebocas — a misnomer, if there ever was one for reasons to follow: Sunday’s stroll about town revealed 15% of people not wearing masks; 50% wearing them correctly; 35% wearing the “cubreboca” ONLY over their mouth, just like the name implies. In Cuba they are called “nasobuco,” indicating they need to cover both nose and mouth — a much better name, methinks!
By the way, according to Richard Grabman over at The Mex Files, “85% of Mexicans are wearing masks in public, compared to 67% of people in the US.”
I wish US states would do public service announcements on how to wear a mask. I’m appalled at how many people wear theirs below the nose. My new pet peeve.
Even with PSAs and posters, many people seem to be unclear on the concept. My current pet peeve is young tourists parading around mask-less — they are guests and the disrespect for Oaxaqueños is appalling!
To borrow AMEX slogan; don’t leave home without it; Sapiens; hardwired to sense danger with eyes… and nostrils. Razon por cubreboca 🙂
Absolutely!
So great to see this and to catch up today Shannon!
Love our Zoom gatherings! Thanks for reading my blog.