Fleeing lockdown, Americans are flock to Mexico City - where the coronavirus is surging - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/world/americas/virus-mexico-visitors.html
At first, life in lockdown was OK, between working from home, exercising with his roommate, and devouring everything on Netflix.But as the coronavirus pandemic wore endlessly on, Rob George began to find the confinement in his West Hollywood home unbearable.“There were weeks where I just wouldn’t leave my house, just working all day — my mental health was definitely suffering,” said Mr. George, 31, who manages business operations for a technology start-up. So when a Mexican friend said he was traveling to Mexico City in November, Mr. George decided to tag along. Now, he’s calling the Mexican capital home — part of an increasing number of foreigners, mainly Americans, who are heading to Mexico, for a short trip or a longer stay to escape restrictions at home.They are drawn partly by the prospect of bringing a little normalcy to their lives in a place where coronavirus restrictions have been more relaxed than at home, even as cases of Covid-19 shatter records. Some of them are staying, at least for a while, and taking advantage of the six-month tourist visa Americans are granted on arrival.
But while coming to this country may be a relief for many foreigners, particularly those fleeing colder weather, some Mexicans find the move irresponsible amid a pandemic, especially as the virus overwhelms Mexico City and its hospitals. Others say the problem lies with Mexican authorities, who waited too long to enact strict lockdown measures, making places like Mexico City enticing to outsiders.“If it was less attractive, fewer people would come,” said Xavier Tello, a Mexico City health policy analyst. “But what we’re creating is a vicious cycle, where we’re receiving more people, who are potentially infectious or infected from elsewhere, and they keep mixing with people that are potentially infectious or infected here in Mexico City.”In November, more than half a million Americans came to Mexico — of those, almost 50,000 arrived at Mexico City’s airport, according to official figures, less than half the number of U.S. visitors who arrived in November last year, but a surge from the paltry 4,000 that came in April, when much of Mexico was shut down. Since then, numbers have ticked up steadily: between June and August, U.S. visitors more than doubled.
It’s unclear how many are tourists and how many are relocating, at least temporarily. Some may be Mexicans who also have American passports, and are visiting family. But walking the streets of Mexico City’s trendier neighborhoods these days, it can sometimes seem like English has become the official language.“A lot of people are either coming down here and visiting to test it out, or have just full-on relocated,” said Cara Araneta, a former New Yorker who has lived on and off in Mexico City for two years, and came back to the capital in June. The surge, however, comes as Mexico City enters a critical phase of the pandemic; hospitals are so stretched that many sick people are staying home as their relatives struggle to buy them oxygen. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised Americans to avoid all travel to Mexico.
The capital’s health care system “is basically overwhelmed,” said Mr. Tello, via WhatsApp message. “The worst is yet to come.”In mid-December, authorities escalated Mexico City’s alert system to the highest level — red — which requires an immediate shutdown of all but essential businesses. But the lockdown came weeks after numbers became critical, even by the government’s own figures, leaving stores thronged with Christmas shoppers and restaurants filled with diners.With its leafy streets and quaint cafes, the upscale Mexico City neighborhoods of Roma and Condesa have attracted expatriates escaping sky-high rents in New York or Los Angeles for years. But with an increasing number of young people now working from home, the so-called axis of cool has become even more attractive, even as Mexico City residents confront a public health crisis.
As in much of the world, the most affluent are often the least affected. In Roma Norte, the contrast has been vivid: On one corner recently, working-class Mexicans lined up to buy oxygen tanks for their relatives, while just blocks away well-off young people queued up for croissants.Mexico City is hardly the only Mexican destination seeing a surge of foreign visitors, particularly Americans, who — with the pandemic raging in the United States — are barred from traveling to many countries. While some Latin American nations have at times shut their borders completely, Mexico has imposed few restrictions: Mexico was the third most visited country in 2020, up from seventh last year, according to the Mexican government, citing preliminary statistics from the World Tourism Organization.
Much of this travel has been concentrated in the country’s popular beach resorts where coronavirus restrictions can be even more relaxed. Los Cabos had nearly 100,000 Americans arrive in November, while Cancun had 236,000 U.S. visitors, only 18 percent fewer than in 2019. The nearby resort town of Tulum made headlines for hosting an art and music festival in November that saw hundreds of revelers dancing maskless inside underground caves.
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