Perception of the Social Response on the Preponderancy of the Omicron Variant of the SARS Cov-2 Virus in Mexico City Volume 4 - Issue 1

Francisco Jiménez Trejo¹*, Hugo Díaz Aguilar² and Isaac González Santoyo³

• ¹National Institute of Pediatrics, Mexico
• ²National Center for Disciplinary Research in Animal Health and Safety, Mexico
• ³Faculty of Psychology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

Received:February 26, 2022;   Published:March 07, 2022

Corresponding author:Francisco Jiménez Trejo PhD, National Institute of Pediatrics, Mexico City, Mexico

DOI: 10.32474/ADO.2022.04.000180

Abstract PDF

After almost more than two years of declaring the presence of the disease named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, China -which caused the current COVID-19 pandemic that we are suffering globally as an international health emergency declared by the WHO- in what is now known as the Anthropocene i.e. the time where human activities are generating not only biological but also geophysical changes on a global scale. Currently, the predominant variant -of South African origin- that is advancing globally is known as OMICRON, which has a wider and faster spread, is more contagious, and generates medical conditions mainly in the upper respiratory tract. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been acting under its role with the high leadership of its representatives at the international level; an immediate reconversion program was launched in Mexico since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (first confirmed case on February 28, 2020). The Mexican government (mainly the Ministry of Health), has had successes and failures throughout the history of these two years of health emergency; so to avoid controversy in this regard, we believed that its priority has always been to contain the progress of the disease and prevent a greater number of deaths, like all governments in the world. Institutional strength and effective leadership are required; however, based on the figures and data from the Mexican authorities and international institutions, to this day we are not an international example regarding the management of the pandemic.

Since the 2nd wave in Mexico, the figures documented by different global centers which manage statistical count data (i.e. Johns Hopkins University, University of California), argued the fact that Mexico was among the countries with the highest fatality rate (deaths about confirmed cases) and with more confirmed deaths from COVID-19 per population, placing us in a weak 5th place (among the US, Brazil, India, and Russia). The Ministry of Health has argued at all times that the high number of deaths is due to patients who have different non-transmissible and chronic-degenerative diseases with comorbidities, such as those that are part of the Metabolic Syndrome or other comorbidities (e.g. diabetes or dysglycemia, hypertension, obesity, COPD, immunosuppression, dyslipidemia, and abdominal obesity). The origin of these diseases can be derived in part from genetic inheritance and/or a bad food culture that is part of our national educational structure at an early age, adolescence, and adulthood, which in the last 3 decades have caused this type of health problems in the Mexican population [1-7].

In addition, it is considered that deceased people probably had contact with relatives who also got sick, becoming part of the statistics of more than 4 million infected citizens confirmed with diagnostic tests. On a regional scale, Mexico City and its metropolitan area have contributed disproportionately to the mortality caused by COVID-19 in the country due to their high demographics, unlike other highly populated cities. Likewise, health authorities have recognized based on death certificates, that due to the pandemic, the number of deaths would be around 451,864 in the country (data provided by INEGI: annual deaths in 2020 and 2021).

Because the Omicron variant circulates faster and tends to spread globally during winter in the Northern Hemisphere (more than the Delta variant), this has accelerated the infection and transmission rates; even the trend seen in the reduction of infections during the fall of 2021 has been exponentially reversed: cases are doubling per day or week according to WHO reports. While the US and Europe have reinforced the entry systems in their countries by applying more severe restrictions after reporting new cases of contagion infections and an increase in people admitted to hospitals, the authorities of the Mexican government (Ministry of Health) have not issued more severe recommendations to be admitted into the country (e.g. vaccination certificate for foreigners or even nationals and a disease-free test). The authorities have stated that “the new Omicron variant does not have the severity of the Delta variant of Covid-19”. However, despite this, vaccination continues in the country (e.g. the daily vaccination record of the population until January 5th, reported the application of 450,935 vaccines), for which a total of more than 150,180,676 doses have been administered. In addition, 82 million people have been immunized against Covid-19 in Mexico and more than 73 million have complete schedules of one or two doses.

Private companies, department stores, macro-kiosks, private diagnostic laboratories seek to supply themselves; however, the number of people queuing in the streets to get tested often exceeds what had been seen before during these 2 years of the pandemic. Though many cases are asymptomatic, we believe that when the pandemic subsides, Mexico will end up as one of the countries that lacked a good strategy to combat it and as the number one country with the highest number of deaths in its health system, although the authorities deny or underestimate the real data from the WHO and PAHO. Finally, all citizens, together with their respective governments, have the right to biopsychosocial well-being with less stress around their daily activities and a circadian nutritional intake that covers all nutritional requirements and contributes to improving this biological balance to avoid opportunistic diseases or by simple exposure, as in the case of Omicron. Likewise, focusing on new scientific trends such as chrononutrition to improve dietary habits along with established times and frequencies for each meal, can further improve biopsychosocial well-being by increasing the immune level, helping to prevent metabolic disorders, and having a stable psychological condition. In the short term and thinking about the future, we must find a better balance of awareness with animals and plants and among citizens regardless of the country.

1. COVID-19 Map - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
2. Mexico's Response to COVID-19: Case Study. Institute for Global Health Science.
3. Mexico has world's most health worker deaths from pandemic, Amnesty International says
4. David Agren (2020) Understanding Mexican health worker COVID-19 deaths 396(10254): 807.
5. (2020) Epidemiological Alert: COVID-19 among healthcare workers.
6. Characteristics of deaths registered in Mexico during 2020.
7. https://mexicovid19.app/covid-19.