Ok, let me have a quick go at this. Main message is, let's keep it relevant to Cancun and not be guided by looking at Mexico as a whole. If I was visiting New York, I wouldn't be very concerned about what is happening in Texas and vice versa. I wouldn't even look at State level, I'd be looking at County level Health Alert – U.S. Embassy Mexico City, Mexico (July 22, 2020) Location: Mexico Event: Mexico COVID-19 Update (July 22, 2020) The number of confirmed and suspected cases is still increasing daily in several regions of Mexico. Mexico City, Guanajuato, Mexico State, Tabasco, and Nuevo León currently report the highest number of active cases for the preceding two-week period. The states currently reporting the highest rates of hospital occupancy are Tabasco, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Puebla, and Colima. Mexican health authorities have reiterated calls for people to stay home during this time. Tabasco is the closest State to Cancun, three States away and an 11 hr 650 mile drive. The others are all more than 1000 miles away. On April 16, the Mexican government extended nationwide restrictions on non-essential economic activities in most municipalities until May 30. Outdated/Irrelevant to current date Schools in Mexico are closed. Summer break, schools are closed regardless. On June 1, the Mexican government began phasing in non-essential economic activities in some states and municipalities using a national “stoplight” system. The four metrics to determine the colors in the Mexican government’s stoplight system are the trend in numbers of new cases, hospital occupancy trends, current hospital occupancy rates, and percentage of positive cases. True, but 7 week old news Eighteen states are designated “red” under the federal system July 20-26 (Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Colima, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán, and Zacatecas). Under red, only essential activities are allowed. Essential activities include: the provision of medical services and supplies, grocery delivery services, operation of grocery stores, restaurant delivery and carryout services, assurance of public safety, maintenance of fundamental economic functions and government social programs, work in critical infrastructure, construction, and manufacturing of transportation equipment. Hotels are limited to 25 percent occupancy for guests working on critical activities. Parks are also limited to 25 percent occupancy. Quintana Roo is not Red. The State Governor has power to overrule Federal system, which he has. Cancun is Orange, the red restrictions are not in effect. Fourteen states are designated “orange” under the federal system July 20-26 (Aguascalientes, Baja California, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico State, Michoacán, Morelos, Sinaloa, Sonora, and Tlaxcala). Under orange, hotels, restaurants, barbershops, open-air parks, and gyms are limited to 50 percent capacity. Markets and supermarkets will operate at 75 percent capacity. Additionally, shopping malls, churches, cinemas, theaters, museums, and cultural events will be limited to 25 percent capacity. Again State overrides Federal. Many of these orange restrictions are different in Cancun. For example gyms are still all closed. Hotels are (or should be) 30% not 50%. Some states and municipalities have implemented additional restrictions on public gatherings, transportation, business operations, and government operations if health conditions warrant and/or developed separate stoplight systems from those at the federal level. Several states and municipalities have imposed curfews and movement restrictions on non-essential activities and have required citizens to wear masks when outside their homes. In some areas, officials may issue fines and/or arrest and detain individuals found to be in violation of stay at home orders. No curfew or movement restrictions here. There have been no detentions for breaking stay at home orders in Cancun, because there aren't any. Please see additional information on these restrictions and links to state COVID-19 websites in the “Local Resources” section on our website. This information is not comprehensive and is subject to change without notice. Please confirm directly with local government and other trusted sources for more information on closures and restrictions in different Mexican states and municipalities. International commercial flight options currently exist in Mexico, but flights to the United States have been cut by nearly 66 percent since January. U.S. citizens who wish to return to the United States should make commercial arrangements as soon as possible unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period. The U.S. government does not anticipate arranging repatriation flights from Mexico to the United States at this time. Old news. Flight numbers have been increasing signifcantly since hotels re-opened in June. So much so, another terminal had to be re-opened. Over 70,000 tourists arrived in the first four weeks after reopening. Currently, 160+ flights per day including from Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Baltimore, Charlotte, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Montreal and Toronto. The United States and Mexico entered a joint initiative March 21 restricting non-essential travel along the U.S.-Mexico land border to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Non-essential travel includes travel that is considered tourism or recreational in nature. These restrictions apply to travel in both directions across the border. On July 16, the U.S. and Mexican governments extended the land border travel restrictions until August 20. Mexican border and local authorities are conducting enforcement actions to discourage non-essential travel in some areas. Please see the DHS website or embassy fact sheet for more information. Land border only. Irrelevant to Cancun. No one drives here, it takes 3 days from the border. Neither country will deny entry to its own citizens or permanent residents. Passengers and aircrew members arriving at and departing from Mexican airports may be subject to health screenings, including temperature checks. Those exhibiting symptoms may be subject to additional health screenings and/or asked to quarantine voluntarily. Walk past a thermal camera that most people don't even notice. Introducing a simple contact tracing app on the way out. Where you stayed, how long etc. Travelers entering Mexico by land from the United States may be denied admission if the purpose of their visit is considered non-essential. By land, irrelevant to Cancun We recommend that travelers carry evidence of the essential nature of their visit and evidence of their resident status in Mexico, if applicable.Travelers entering Mexico via land may be subject to temperature checks and additional health screening. Travelers may experience significant delays and face the possibility of being returned to the United States or asked to quarantine in Mexico. At some U.S. ports of entry, operating hours have changed; please review CBP’s Port of Entry wait times web page for additional information. Arrivals by land only. Irrelevant On April 3, Mexican Tourism and Health officials instructed all accommodation services, including hotels, hostels, online platforms, and travel agencies, to cancel new and existing reservations and close for non-essential business. Requirement was to cancel existing and new reservations for the period up to June 1st. Irrelevant and almost 4 months out of date As of June 1, the availability of hotel rooms and other commercial lodging, limitations on the number of guests within a hotel, and requirements for guests to be engaged in essential business or transit will vary depending on the state’s stoplight color designation and local restrictions. Individuals showing respiratory symptoms will be referred to health authorities. As a reminder, the U.S. government does not pay for lodging or other expenses incurred due to travel disruptions abroad. True
Thank you Steve! Have been looking for accurate information. We will be there in 28 days! I am a front line worker (nurse) and have had 4 vacations cancelled already, so looking forward to celebrating our 40 year anniversary (late). I need to unwind, unplug and relax. If people take appropriate measures they can make accurate, informed, personal decisions, but for people who hype up the negative side of things makes me sick. Thank you for the honest, upfront, first hand knowledge.
Thank you @Steve for the clarifications. Just wondering why the restrictions on land border crossings vs air. Why is land crossing considered more risky? [This question is for anyone]
The land border crossing restriction is most likely due to the sheer number of people that walk/drive across the southern US border crossings each day for work between the US and Mexico. Any kind of social distancing would be impossible to enforce.
How long are we willing to "stay at home" hiding from COVID? If we stay at home, will COVID simply disappear 6 months from now , a year from now, or is it here to stay? Are we staying at home waiting on a vaccine? Will the vaccine be 100% effective or just 50% effective as required by the FDA? Who will be guinea pigs willing to try the first round of COVID vaccine? I personally don't see COVID going away anytime soon and I believe it is here to stay, at least for the near future. It will be interesting to see where we are with COVID one year from now.
This is exactly it. A thing to add though, schools aren't closed. Some are, especially public ones. Private schooling is mostly still going. My kids go to a school in Cancun, remotely.
From what I just read, it is here to stay. Only hope is that we will have a vaccine and be able to treat it similar to a flu vaccine.
I believe it is here to stay, but that’s normal. Looking back over the last 4 months it’s amazing how far we’ve come in terms of our knowledge of this new virus. I’m excited to see what we’ll know four months from now.
