Stories that caught my eye in this morning's news: Coronavirus: Lowest weekday rise in UK hospital deaths for three weeks Coronavirus: Essential workers and their households can book tests from tomorrow Coronavirus: Human trials of a UK COVID-19 vaccine get under way French researchers to test nicotine patches on coronavirus patients
Steve Are they Still Expected to open June 1? We have reservations for the 4-9 but just read Mexico is bracing for a surge in coronavirus. Thoughts? Mexico braces for a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths
Yes, June 1st is still the opening date currently. Some resorts are pushing back opening until July 1st, but I am confident that is because they don't have the advanced bookings - indirectly related to the virus but not because of the situation here. Temptation was the first to get back on its feet after Hurricane Wilma 2005 and Swine Flu 2009 (?) . It will be the first again. Of course, it's a rapidly changing situation and only time will tell. Lots of people may speculate (I personally hate that), but the statement we have from the hotel says June 1st. Until there is a new statement that supercedes what we have, that is what I go on. I would say if you want to read news about Mexico, look at Mexican news sources. Yep all in Spanish - but many browsers provide instant translations. US sources will have a pro US / anti Mexico bias, they always have had. Every year without fail, they bring out scare stories about Spring Break in Mexico. If I was planning on travelling to the States then I wouldn't be looking at Mexican media to find out the situation in the US. The article uses emotive language. They say "braces" could have said "awaits", they say "surge" they could have said "increase". They chose not to. Because it sounds more alarming, gets more social shares increasing their ad revenue, and appeals to the pro Trump readership that a so called Military news source is targeting. I have seen this particular link shared all over the place, which was the entire objective of the article. Other quotes: "Mexico has 1.4 hospital beds for every 1,000 citizens, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The United States has twice as many." What it doesn't mention is the US GDP is 18X that of Mexico. Who is really under-resourced? "For weeks, López Obrado was harshly criticized as he continued to travel around the country, kissing and hugging admirers and seeming to downplay the danger." Many people think Trump downplayed it too. No mention of that. And like the US, it is the Governors that make the decisions at State level and have been more diligent than our respective Presidents. "In recent weeks, officials have been scrambling to increase stocks of ventilators, masks, gowns and other items." Is that not the case in every country? "Mexican authorities have reported more than 500 coronavirus cases among medical professionals, including nine deaths." and no such problems in the US? Just a few examples of bullet points that cause alarm, but where our situation isn't dissimilar to anywhere else. The article linked is largely based on Mexico City which is a 2 hr flight from Cancun. Mexico City has a similar population to NYC, and like NYC also a very high population density. And like NYC the worst affected place in a very large country. You're planning on going to Cancun, so looking at Mexico City or the country as a whole isn't representative of where you are traveling to. Again to flip things around, I wouldn't be looking at stats for New York or the US as a whole if I was traveling to say Dallas. There are local news sources for Cancun I could link if you like, and I post a daily update of the official figures here: Cancun Covid 19 Update So, as for Cancun: Numbers are increasing, people say we (Mexico as a whole) are 4 weeks behind the US, but in Cancun we started all the same mitigation measures around the same time. Far earlier in the progression than the US did The cases per capita are the 6th highest out of 32 States, but 10% of the numbers in Mexico City I am also a believer in sunlight and high temperatures reducing the life of the virus on hard surfaces exposed to the sun. I know it is debatable, and doesn't really effect other forms of transmission, but I think it may play a role in reducing transmission here. You wouldn't expect this coronavirus to behave differently to other similar coronaviruses that have more established data that shows their susceptibility to those factors. Temperatures have been off the chart for the last few months and it hasn't rained since January. So in summary June 1st is Temptation's open date. It may change, but until it does that is what we should work with, and not try to speculate Temptation will be among the first to open of any resorts in Cancun US media will always exaggerate the situation in Mexico. News sources local to the area you are traveling will give you a better idea of the actual situation. Numbers in Cancun are increasing, but are not ridiculously out of hand
I forgot to add, to indicate how strict our lockdown (Cancún) currently is: No more than two adult passengers in any car, at all times No cars are allowed on the road at any time if you have an out of state or foreign license plate. Unless an essential worker, or have a medical or food emergency. No cars at all allowed to be on the road at weekends. Unless an essential worker, or have a medical or food emergency. You have to get a special card if you are an essential worker. Penalty is prison (or more likely a negotiable bribe). WTF is going on?
I agree with Steve’s comments on the “Words” the US press uses sometimes to describe events. I grew up in a former British colony and now live the US. My wife is a US citizen. I always tell my wife about my college experience in the the mid 70’s in the US siting in World Civilization and knowing the the professor is using English words but the context were in some instances the opposite to my English. Quite confusing. Having lived in the US for twenty years I have experienced this situation many times. I adjust for where I am now. I did not really come to the conclusion that we did use words differently until my son, who attended elementary and junior high in my country and high school and college in the US said he had the same problem and showed many examples. You’re never to old to learn and change but it shows you that different people can interpret the written or spoken word differently and we should choose them wisely. We were told, we could speak however we wanted (slang), but always write in the Queen’s English.
So sad to hear those news but everybody is facing the virus circumstances. We've been in 40 days in lockdown. Our companies decided to give us early vacation so right now we'll continue in lockdown until May 11. We'll have to work from June to November 30. No summer vacation at all this year. We already canceled our trip to TTR. We'll see what happen and hope to be back to Paradise soon
Huh... both of these/you dudes below always seem to be both rational, moderate in decision-making, and not prone to snap-judgment. I find these two quotes and points of view to be illustrative of the (relatively) diametrically opposing points of view on things. It is really very interesting, from a 10,000 foot view perspective. Down on the ground in NYC, I'd expect the viewpoint to be very different. One of Stacia's family is the CEO of a midwest hospital. We recently did a family Zoom for one of the little one's birthday celebration, and when the talk settled out of the signing etc., we had some of the usual discussion about how people are doing. The family CEO mentioned that her hospital is already over $1M USD behind budget... for this 2020 year. They "got behind" in a period of 5 weeks. The above is what I call "Perspective from the Economy." Len's conceptulization of electives not going forwards is from the opposing side of the bundle of issues we over-simplify (my opinion) and put into the box called "Corona Virus response." Do we want people to die? 'Course not. Do we want more people than... I guess I can't avoid saying "have to" become seriously ill, even if not sick enough to have to go to the hospital? Again, 'Course not. So, we should take all measures necessary to limit the spread and efficacy of the virus. I call the above "Perspective from the Public health." The above two positions... as well as the battles in the media.... shoot, even between people who are standing in line 6 feet or so apart... drive home the point of why so much of the law in the western world revolves around the word, "reasonable." As in, "we should take all reasonable measures necessary to limit the spread and efficacy of the virus. And Oh boy... inserting the word into the closing sentence above... that's really the rub, isn't it?
Agreed: "Bracing for a surge" Bracing is something you do when your plane is about to crash, or a dentist is about to drill your tooth for a root canal A surge is something you expect from a tsunami or a large out of control crowd. Mexico isn't "bracing for a surge", more like "anticipating an increase".
Finally someone talking a little bit about re-opening, and it's not Trump, so there is a chance the actual message will be listened to. I wish there were more details in this, but at least it's something.
