State disputes hiding COVID stats
Although the government of Baja California has denied hiding death figures from COVID-19, Government Secretary Amador Rodríguez Lozano acknowledged a document that instructs the state Recorder’s Office not to provide figures on the deaths.
In a statement, Rodríguez Lozano admitted the existence of a letter dated March 31 whereby the General Health Council (the only national body validated to handle the information of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico) emphasized a single channel of communication.
In turn, the state Recorder’s Office issued an official letter to all officials in Baja California instructing them to refrain from providing information to avoid generating “a war of figures,” said the official.
State Secretary of Health Alonso
Pérez Rico, affirmed that 100 percent of patients in hospitals undergo real-time PCR tests vs. 10 percent of outpatients.
“If any person dies of atypical pneumonia, the corresponding sampling is made to verify if the condition was exacerbated by COVID-19, and it will appear in the death certificate,” Pérez Rico explained.
The official comments follow a recent Reforma newspaper story claiming authorities have intentionally hidden information about those killed by SARS CoV-2.
The state government denied this, characterizing itself as a transparent administration that has been informing the public daily about the status of the pandemic.
Gov. Jaime Bonilla, along with the secretary of health, the secretary of government and state Recorder’s Office Director Paloma Guadalupe Alegría Murrieta specifically refuted the newspaper’s accusations.
“At no time have we issued an instruction not to report patients who have lost the battle, but quite the contrary,” Pérez Rico said. “We want to have reliable information.”
He added: “Information about COVID-19 is something very delicate, for that reason the Mexican Department of Public Health has indicated that the sole spokespersons are the governor and the secretary of health.”
Rodríguez Lozano said the newspaper only scandalized Baja California’s community.
“We are a government that does not hide anything. We are a transparent government,” Rodríguez Lozano said. “It is totally false that Gov. Jaime Bonilla Valdez ordered the institutions to be silenced, as some media say, so as not to provide information.”