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Coronavirus Update - Puerto Vallarta

April 20, 2020

As of April 20, 2020, Jalisco reported 198 Covid-19 cases according to Mexico News Daily. Jalisco includes Guatalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Twenty one of these were reported in Puerto Vallarta, 66 were reported in Guatalajara and 54 were reported in Zapopan.

Nine of the cases in Puerto Vallarta were health professionals. Puerto Vallarta is the only municipality within Jalisco to report infections among medical personnel.

On April 18, Alonso Pérez Rico, Health Secretary for Baja California, reported that at least 30 doctors in the state, principally in Mexicali, have tested positive for COVID-19. None is critical.

21 cases of coronavirus in Puerto Vallarta; 9 patients are health workers - Reporter blames cases on failure to enforce regulations
Published on Monday, April 20, 2020



The Jalisco municipality of Puerto Vallarta is the only one in the state to have recorded coronavirus infections among medical personnel.

There are now 21 cases in the popular tourist destination, the third highest in the state. Nine are among health professionals.

Guadalajara tops the list of Jalisco’s 198 Covid-19 cases with 66, followed by neighboring Zapopan with 54. But Puerto Vallarta and the capital each have recorded three of the state’s 13 Covid-19 deaths, more than any other Jalisco municipality.

Although Puerto Vallarta residents and visitors are currently observing the federal government’s quarantine guidelines, authorities initially failed to enforce the measures to their fullest extent and allowed foreign tourists to gather on the beaches when they were supposed to be closed.

Local reporter Doraliz Terrón was harassed and physically attacked by two Canadian tourists in early April while reporting on foreign visitors not observing the public health guidelines on the beach.

Her story ended up going viral online, compelling local authorities to reinforce quarantine efforts on the city’s beaches.

Terrón told Mexico News Daily that she believes the virus has hit Puerto Vallarta in this unique way as a direct result of that failure to enforce the rules from the beginning.

“The [local] authorities were very permissive during the first days of the pandemic, given what they wanted, which was to continue to treat foreign tourists well,” she said.

Terrón added that the initial cases in Puerto Vallarta all began in people who work at or in the vicinity of the international airport, either in a commercial, transportation or official airport capacity.

“Unfortunately these people were perhaps infected by a foreigner who arrived [for vacation],” she said.

But a glimmer of hope shone through the weekend’s cloud of heavy headlines, as Terrón said that one of the sick health workers in the city had recovered and was scheduled to be discharged from the hospital on Monday afternoon.

To date health authorities have investigated suspicious cases in 101 of Jalisco’s 125 municipalities and detected infections in 23 of them. Another 2,805 suspected cases have tested negative during the pandemic, and 372 possible cases are currently under observation.
Nayarit has reported only 33 cases, and government official driectives imposed stricter social distancing and closures of restaurants and other gathering places on April 6, 2020.

President López Obrador also said that based upon current projections, the 979 municipalities that have not had reported cases of coronavirus will be able to reopen schools and workplaces on May 17; the date is June 1 for the 463 municipalities that have.
Nuevo Vallarta and Puerto Vallarta may be able to open schools and workplaces on June 1, given that they both have reported cases of COVID-19 in their municipalities.
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