Posted in Creativity, Culture, Health, Politics, Travel & Tourism, tagged ARCH (artist), Barrio de Xochimilco, Berza (artist), coronavirus fallout, COVID-19 fallout, El Tendajón, murals, photos, popular travel destinations, semáforo system, stencil art on April 11, 2021| 1 Comment »
The headline in NVI Noticias announced, despite an increase in COVID-19, the federal government declared that, as of tomorrow, Oaxaca will move from semáforo amarillo (yellow traffic light)…
… to semáforo verde (green traffic light).
Inquiring minds are wondering if the downgrading of COVID-19 risk has anything to do with the upcoming elections on June 6.
Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Holidays, Travel & Tourism, tagged Alice in Wonderland quotations, Christmas decorations, coronavirus fallout, COVID-19 fallout, Louis Carroll quotations, Mexico, monos, murals, Oaxaca, photos, Santa Claus, semáforo system, street art, urban art, wall art on December 21, 2020| 2 Comments »
Today Oaxaca regressed to “If you are able, stay in your house” Covid-19 semáforo naranja, seemingly for the umpteenth time, not that it seems to make any difference. A morning walk to Mercado Benito Juárez revealed restaurants continuing to offer indoor dining; a zócalo teeming with people, street vendors, and the tents of a plantón (protest encampment); and a mercado bustling with people. These days I feel like I’m living in Alice in Wonderland’s world…
“Off with their heads!”
“One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response. ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.”
“Little Alice fell
d
o
w
n
the hOle,
bumped her head
and bruised her soul”
“What a strange world we live in… Said Alice to the Queen of hearts”
All quotes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Louis Carroll.
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Health, Travel & Tourism, tagged coronavirus fallout, COVID-19 fallout, Mexico, Oaxaca, photos, popular travel destinations, semáforo system, street art, urban art, wall art on September 13, 2020| 10 Comments »
Semáforo amarillo (yellow traffic light), we hardly knew ya. According to this article, due to the resistance and indiscipline of the citizens to maintain prevention measures, as of Monday, September 14, Oaxaca is back in the Covid-19 semáforo naranja (orange traffic light) — meaning a high risk of contagion. Alas, this does not come as a surprise.
As previously mentioned, the semáforo designation is based on ten criteria by the federal government. However, it’s my understanding the implementation is left up to states and municipalities, which means concrete answers as to what this entails is fuzzy — to say the least! Color me orange with big eyes and clenched teeth.
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Health, popular travel destinations, Travel & Tourism, tagged artisans, clay sculpture, Concepción Aguilar, coronavirus fallout, COVID-19 fallout, folk art, fundraising, health and safety, Mexico, Oaxaca, photo, semáforo system, Support for the Folk Artists of Oaxaca on August 30, 2020| 5 Comments »
Beginning tomorrow, Oaxaca’s Covid-19 status moves down to Semáforo Amarillo (yellow traffic light) — meaning that in the state of Oaxaca one is now at medium risk for contracting the virus. The methodology used by the federal government to go from one color traffic light to another has expanded and is now based on criteria having to do with case numbers, reproduction rates, percentage of positivity, hospitalizations, hospital occupancy rates, and mortality percentage per 100,000 people. However, judging from comments on the Facebook page of the Servicios de Salud de Oaxaca (Oaxaca Health Services), it’s a controversial move (my translation):
According to the government’s corona virus website, yellow means all work activities are allowed and public spaces can be open — albeit all activities must continue to be carried out with basic preventive measures (masks, hand hygiene, social distancing) and consideration for people at higher risk. However, it won’t mean the reopening of schools; that has to wait for the green light.
In the meantime, I am thrilled with my new Covid-19 themed clay sculpture by Concepción Aguilar, a member of the iconic Aguilar family of potters from Ocotlán de Morelos. It was a “thank you gift” from the Support for the Folk Artists of Oaxaca, Mexico fundraising effort. The artisans are an integral part of the specialness of Oaxaca. Make a contribution, if you can!
Posted in Creativity, Culture, Health, Travel & Tourism, tagged coronavirus fallout, COVID-19 fallout, cubrebocas, masks, Mexico, murals, Oaxaca, photos, popular travel destinations, semáforo system, stencils, street art, urban art, wall art on July 21, 2020| 6 Comments »
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.”
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