Flashing a light on social inequities: Covid-19 in Mexico
As we are bombarded daily with news titles regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and its retaliations, some key elements concerning this global phenomenon are being overlooked. While many pin their concerns on the instability of the economy, inequalities among our social structures, which are readily exposed and exacerbated through the pandemic, are disregarded. In Mexico, like many other developing economies around the world, the concept of ‘quarantining at home’ has become evidently a matter of privilege. A fact we cannot ignore. Instead, we need to understand the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to reconsider how our lives are constructed and what is essential for a more equitable future.
Segmented basic services can lead to higher spread of the virus
Today, 1 in 5 households in Mexico lacks some basic services, whether it is clean water (affecting 7.6% of the population), sanitary drainage (affecting 6.8% of the population), public lighting, nearby transport systems or access to open public spaces. Even if some of them have connection to these services, it is likely that they do not work on a daily basis. By now, we know that access to services, like clean water and drainage services, is linked to the levels of health of the population. As a matter of fact, some of these systems have emerged due to past global health crises: The 19th century cholera epidemics brought about modern sanitary systems and the industrialization period in Europe, when respiratory diseases were at a peak, air and light regulations in housing complexes were demanded.
As the rate of urbanization continues to increase in Latin America and its urban areas grow in population, Covid-19 can help raise some questions about the quality and the standards in which urban centers are being generated, as well as how services are spread among the needs of the entire population and not only those at the top of the social pyramid. Mexico City, the 5th most populated urban region in the world with over 21 million inhabitants, has been tackling living quality standards for many years now and during the coronavirus pandemic has reported the highest number of cases in the country. This could be thought to be related to the city’s dense population and the close contact among its residents. However, examples from other parts of the world show how equally dense cities handle the pandemic extremely well. Hence, differences in infection rates between dense cities can potentially be attributed to access to health centers and testing equipment.
We know that Italy, the United States and the UK, have relied on heavy testing to understand where and with which rate the virus is spreading (TTT method), while Mexico has taken a different approach. The federal government has decided to keep testing in low numbers with 0.4 tests being done per 1,000 people, being one of the lowest in OECD countries to date. Not only has this created high speculation on the number of cases being reported by the government but it has also provoked public backlash against the authorities in urban centers, decreasing safety in public areas.
Despite its large economy, around 50% of the economy in Mexico is still informal, which means that the part of the population which does not hold a formal job, has seen their income be reduced or even gone during the pandemic. This has lead people to ignore lockdown regulations. Instead of staying in-doors, they leave their homes in the search of any income they can find, putting their health at risk. Today, national hospitals are seeing patients arrive very ill, to the point where they die before being tested for Covid-19. Hence, official death toll numbers are lower than they actually would be. Many media outlets and even public representatives have raised the question on whether numbers and graphs detailing the situation showcase the urgency for control.
All this hints to the idea that countries like Mexico with lower urban development ratio, segmented access to basic services and the distribution of, in this case aid, have a harder time keeping people in-doors and safe. At the same time, vulnerable groups end up being neglected and receiving the short end of the stick during already challenging times.
Facing the pandemic in ‘the never ending city’
Living through the Covid-19 pandemic in Latin American cities has also some specific challenges, which relate to the speed in which urban areas came to be. These challenges jeopardize the capability of residents in such areas to combat a health emergency in the best way possible. Mexico City’s metropolitan area specifically, is known for its alarming air quality and a low green area ratio within its urban tissue. At the same time, the urban sprawl has burdened infrastructure and its ability to provide access to decent, safe and clean public transport, which in turn leads residents to depend on cars to reach their different destinations. Car use in Mexican cities has further deteriorated people’s health by decreasing their walkability and overall active body use for mobility. To date, Mexico is one of the unhealthiest countries in the world with issues like obesity, heart problems, diabetes and blood pressure, all lethal when facing the coronavirus.
The coronavirus has put into question this unhealthy lifestyle, which is engrained in the culture and its cities. It has further allowed us to question whether the structure of current services and infrastructure is either repressing or aiding development. It makes us wonder whether the level of urbanization at which cities have been growing and the concentration of its services, benefitting only specific groups of society, should continue as usual. Or should we reconsider their functioning and restructure them to democratize benefits? It is important to point out that the socio-political situation in Mexico, specially the governing bodies’ competencies to handle the situation, have been put into question due to the transparency of information shared and operative actions taken during this time.
Today, as Mexican citizens, we should look at ourselves and ask: Are our representatives putting our best interest first or their own? Do we want our cities to be healthier, more prosperous, sustainable, innovative and inclusive? We should use this time to shift our human power towards achieving public interests. It is hard to predict when, or if, the Covid-19 pandemic will disappear, and there is no one-for-all solution to mitigate the situation. However, transforming the living conditions of the most vulnerable and improving our urban environments to be more resilient and adaptive to change might be a tool to tackle this and other crises in the long term.
