Border cities worried about a spike in coronavirus cases as outbreak worsens in Mexico
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Public officials and health care workers in the San Diego area are worried that the region could see a spike in COVID-19 cases tied to the daily cross-border migration.
It comes amid reports that the numbers of both infections and deaths related to the novel coronavirus are much higher in Mexico than reported, as well as the continued flow of people back-and-forth across the U.S.-Mexico border.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}EL CHAPO’S SONS IMPOSE CORONAVIRUS CURFEW IN MEXICAN TOWN CONTROLLED BY CARTEL: REPORT
Health care workers at Scripps Health in Chula Vista – a city close to the U.S.-Mexico border – say they have already witnessed a surge in patients and are nearing the facility’s capacity. The city and other neighboring communities have the highest rate of infection per 100,000 in all of California – jumping from 172 per 100,000 two weeks ago to 234 per 100,000 as of last week.
San Diego County as a whole has the third-highest number of confirmed cases in the country’s most populous state – behind only Los Angeles County and nearby Riverside County.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We’re growing because our Baja [California Norte, a Mexican state] community is coming here for testing and treatment,” Lornna Hopping, a nurse and manager of the emergency department at Scripps’ Chula Vista hospital, told the Wall Street Journal. “Whatever happens there is significantly going to have an impact on us, and vice versa.”
Hospital workers said that the spike in cases was tied to people with dual citizenship or dual residence who cross the border into San Diego County to work in “essential businesses” or to shop. There has been no link to the spread of the virus to people crossing the border illegally into the U.S.
In March, more than 531,000 pedestrians and more than 1.6 million vehicle passengers crossed the border near San Diego before U.S. officials closed the border to all nonessential travelers on March 21, but anecdotal evidence shows that people are still coming north to work and heading south to go shopping.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While Mexican officials and health care workers have reported major outbreaks of the contagion in places like Mexico City and Tijuana, they have so far downplayed the impact of the disease in the county. There are stories, however, surfacing that the coronavirus is wreaking much more havoc on the country than is actually being reported.
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As of last Thursday, Mexico had reported some 29,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 2,961 deaths. In a veiled admission to the lack of testing, the government in Mexico City has recently added a new statistic: deaths that might have been caused by the new coronavirus, but that number was only 245.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Instead, the cause of death of many who have likely died from the disease has been labeled as “atypical pneumonia” or “suspected COVID-19,” but not recorded as a coronavirus death.
The dearth of testing and the possibility that the contagion could cause major problem for both Mexico and their northern neighbors has been a cause for concern not just for communities along the border but also in the highest level of the federal government in Washington.
President Trump recently weighed in on the matter – where he mocked California for not wanting people entering the state from Mexico and took time to tout his border wall project.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Mexico is sadly experiencing very big CoronaVirus problems, and now California, get this, doesn’t want people coming over the Southern Border," Trump tweeted last week. "A Classic! They are sooo lucky that I am their President. Border is very tight and the Wall is rapidly being built!
Kristin Gaspar, San Diego County's Third District supervisor, sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence in April saying that medical professionals were "increasingly worried about the rapid spread of COVID-19 in northern Mexico" and that there had been "a sudden influx of critically ill patients from Mexico" in Chula Vista, Calif. Gaspar asked for senior Trump administration officials to speak with local hospital executives and medical professionals to address the issue.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Additionally, Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder and Sharp HealthCare COVID 19 Strategic Response Executive Consultant Daniel Gross wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf asking for help in dealing with coronavirus cases at the border.
Trump has long pushed for tightening the U.S.-Mexico border, although those calls were mainly in reference to cracking down on illegal immigration, not border crossings made by those with work visas or U.S. citizens living in Mexico. The hardline approach has been in stark contrast with the stance taken by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has endorsed sanctuary policies to protect illegal immigrants from being deported by federal authorities.
Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.