By Miguel Juárez
Josué Esquivel, a reporter for Telemundo 48 Noticias 60 in San Antonio, Texas, conducted a Facebook Live session on Wednesday, April 7th where he interviewed a nurse in Cd. Juárez on the COVID-19 Pandemic. His video received 22,807 views. Esquivel stated the numbers of sick differ from the numbers being reported by Cd. Juárez authorities.
Josué Esquivel’s report: https://www.telemundosanantonio.com/noticias/mexico/enfermero-en-chihuahua-sobre-pacientes-con-covid-19-no-hay-como-salvarlos/2048315/
In his session, Esquivel spoke to the nurse who described the situation in a Cd. Juárez hospital treating patients, as grim. The nurse stated that on April 7th during his shift they saw approximately 50 people with symptoms, such as fever, muscle aches, headaches, and respiratory illness. The nurse stated there aren’t enough tests, ventilators, equipment or health care workers available [in the border city of 1.5 million people]. He said he and his co-workers come to work with fear for themselves and their families.
The nurse stated patients go on ventilators daily because many of them arrive from having been ill for several days. He said patients who are worse, usually die within a day. When asked about age ranges of patients who come in for treatment, he stated there are individuals in 20s, 30s, as well as patients into their 70s. He said 100 people have died in Cd. Juárez in the last three weeks due to “pneumonia.” He said sometimes cases come back negative for pneumonia and they are deemed as “atypical pneumonia.”
Julian Resendez, writing in The Border Report stated Chihuahua has 43 cases and seven deaths and says four additional fatalities are under investigation. According to Resendez: “Twenty-six of the cases and 10 of the fatalities are being reported in Juarez and three involved employees of a U.S.-run maquiladora.”
Julian Resendez’s article: https://www.borderreport.com/hot-topics/mexican-border-state-now-investigating-11-covid-19-fatalities/
On April 7th, Norte Digital reported five people had died of atypical pneumonia and more than 30 people were on ventilators at Hospital No. 66 in Cd. Juárez. The publication reported 17 people have died in Cd. Juárez in two hospitals in the last five days due to complications due to COVID-19, and that from January to date, 206 people had died from atypical pneumonia, compared to 318 in 2019.
Norte Digital’s article: https://nortedigital.mx/saturan-pacientes-piso-del-imss-que-fue-habilitado-para-covid-19/#.Xo38Wso7ywB.facebook
