Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico Reports 850 Suspected Confirmed Positive COVID-19 Cases, Most Cases are Asymptomatic
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2020
The City of Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico Mayor Alfredo Paredes Lopez announced on Monday, April 13, 2020 at press conference in the northern Coahuila industrial city known as the Steel Capital of Mexico that there are 850 suspected confirmed positive COVID-19 cases within the community of which the majority are from persons who are asymptomatic, causing an alarming public health emergency in the metropolitan area of Monclova.
Monclova, Coahuila has a population estimated at 250,000 and is only 150 miles southwest of the nearest U.S.-Mexico border city of Eagle Pass, Texas.
According to the State of Coahuila Department of Health press release on April 13, 2020, the City of Monclova, Coahuila had a total of 104 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases with 10 fatalities in the community.
However, Monclova Mayor Alfredo Paredes Lopez’s startling announcement on Monday, April 13, 2020 clearly indicates a severe proliferation of COVID-19 cases increasing to 850 suspected cases with a majority of asymptomatic people. Mayor Paredes Lopez noted that there are confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in every neighborhood and subdivision in Monclova, pleading with city residents to stay at home, practice social distancing, and wear face masks covering their nose and mouth.
Monclova Mayor Paredes Lopez stated that the municipal government was going to have to pass stricter emergency health measures limiting the mobility of residents in order to prevent the community spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus.
The City of Monclova, State of Coahuila and the National Institute of Social Security (national healthcare system) are planning on developing and building a temporary inflatable field hospital with 60 beds and 60 ventilators to provide healthcare services to COVID-19 patients in the immediate future to handle the explosive growth of confirmed positive cases within the community.
Paredes Lopez noted that there are 26 COVID-19 patients in the local hospital out of the 30 beds available with six of the COVID-19 patients intubated on ventilators as of April 13, 2020. Meanwhile, the State of Coahuila Department of Health reported 22 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Monclova as of April 13, 2020.
The City of Monclova has definitely become the hot spot of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Mexico with the 850 suspected confirmed positive cases reported by Mayor Paredes Lopez at the April 13, 2020 press conference.
