In a Mexican hospital the strength of the youth diminishes before a “cruel” enemy

Diego went out with friends again as Covid-19 vaccination expanded in Mexico. Today, in a hospital bed, he admits his carelessness in the face of this “cruel” enemy.

The third wave of the pandemic in the country hits especially young people; it also baffles medical staff, exhausted after almost a year and a half of crisis.

“I think I did let my guard down a lot thinking he wasn’t going to hit me, but in the end he did,” the 20-year-old student at a private clinic in Coacalco, a northern suburb of Mexico City, told AFP. “This is not a joke, it is a pretty cruel disease.”

The rebound prompted the government to declare the capital – of 9.2 million inhabitants – on high alert on Friday, although without restrictive measures.

Diego, who avoided giving his full name, is one of the 16 coronavirus patients who attend the hospital. Only three are over the age of 60, unlike the peaks of mid-2020 and early 2021 when young people appeared to be safe.

The rest of the patients are between 20 and 36 years old.

Mexico, with 126 million inhabitants, is the fourth country most mourned by the pandemic in absolute numbers with 244,248 deaths, to which are added some three million confirmed cases, 137,684 active.

– Factor Delta –

The new wave is due to the most contagious Delta variant, which in the last eight weeks went from representing 31% to 67% of cases, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

“It seems that neither the government nor anyone was interested in returning people to their homes,” says Jesús Victoria, the clinic’s head of nursing.

In addition, Mexicans between the ages of 18 and 29 just began to be vaccinated on July 27, observes Victoria, who also receives immunized patients.

“The covid ends them very quickly. We have had the opportunity to discharge most of them, but we have also had many deaths of young people,” he laments.

Despite the rebound, hospital occupancy remains far from the January peak when it exceeded 90%, thanks to vaccination. Currently, 49% of general beds and 58% of those equipped with a fan are available, according to the government.