Mexico’s Baja California state is experiencing its largest wave of COVID-19 cases yet as the U.S. reopened borders to those who are vaccinated on Monday, including its busiest land crossing, between San Diego and Baja’s Tijuana.
The border state is the only one that remains on high COVID alert in Mexico despite 87% of its adult population receiving at least one dose of the vaccine, according to government data. The state used most of a special shipment by the U.S. government of over 1 million Johnson & Johnson single-dose shots to inoculate the population, which it did in under 10 days over the summer in a bid to reopen the border.
Last week, Baja California’s Health Minister announced it would create a new committee focused on responding to the pandemic. Though cases are soaring and hospitalizations jumped to 52% of available beds from 36% a month ago, deaths in the state have remained below those seen in the first two waves of the pandemic.
Baja California residents reached mobility rates similar to before the pandemic sooner than many other states, which may explain this latest wave of contagion, Rafael Lozano, a professor at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
“On a national average pre-COVID mobility was reached in October, but in Baja it happened in May,” Lozano said in an interview.
