Mexico Hotspots Now Requiring Vaccination, Testing To Enter Hotels, Bars, Restaurants
Mexico is now reporting its highest rate of new infections seen since January’s peak, averaging nearly 14,000 new cases daily—a 27 percent increase over the previous week.
You still don’t need negative COVID-19 test results or proof of vaccination in order to enter the country, but you’d better have them if you plan on staying in some of its most popular tourism destinations, which have been booming with American beach vacationers this summer.
The Mexican Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, constituting part of the Yucatan Peninsula, is home to such well-known and popular tourism areas as Cancun, Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Puerto Morelos, Cozumel and the ancient Mayan site of Tulum.
On Monday, the state’s Governor Carlos Joaquín enacted a new policy that obliges businesses—including hotels, restaurants, bars, shopping centers and other public places—to require that patrons show proof of vaccination or negative test results under 72 hours as a condition for entry to their establishments. The mandate applies equally to all employees, he said.
According to Mexico’s “stoplight” monitoring system, Quintana Roo is currently in the high-risk orange category. Mexico News Daily reported that it is one of several states that’s seen rising contagion levels since the highly contagious Delta variant began gripping the nation; just as it has done in the U.S., where it’s already the dominant strain of the virus.
On Saturday, Joaquín also issued a reminder that Quintana Roo’s businesses must continue to cap capacities at 50 percent, and restaurants and bars must close by 12:00 a.m., according to the regulations that accompany the state’s orange status. Any establishments flouting the rules will be penalized, he emphasized.
In the state of Sinaloa on the country’s west coast, the resort city of Mazatlán’s mayor, Luis Guillermo Benítez Torres, has likewise decreed that hotel guests will need to provide either proof of vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test to enter. Sinaloa is currently Mexico’s only state in the maximum-risk red category.
According to Forbes, as part of the order that’s set to take effect on August 2, Torres said that both visitors and citizens must carry their vaccination certificates with them whenever they’re in public places, including bars, restaurants, retail centers, etc. He also reminded everyone that wearing face masks in public places remains compulsory.