Thread by @NathanielParish

I'm reading this report by a group of former heads of Mexico's @SSalud_mx, including @Chertorivski and @julio_frenk.

I will tweet English translations of some of the most important points.

https://twitter.com/Chertorivski/status/1303898205243932677

"The decision [by Mexican President #AMLO's government] to not do tests, or to do as few as possible, is incomprehensible from a medical and scientific point of view." (page 20)

In late March, Mexico's National Epidemiological Committee made the decision to "only take swabs from 10% of walk-in cases, 100% of suspected cases with serious respiratory difficulties and 100% of the patients [with] serious respiratory infections." (page 21)

Under #AMLO's leadership, "A communication [strategy] that has progressively lost credibility due to its failed predictions, unfulfilled prognoses, frequent contradictions & absence of transparency is added to scanty & problematic [official] statistics" on Covid-19 in Mexico. p22

"At first, the government's message minimized the risk (the new coronavirus was less lethal than the flu...). The public health recommendations went one way and the president's behavior [went] the other [way]." (page 22)

"the graphic shows that [in the first few weeks of the #covid19mx pandemic] after Nicaragua and Brazil, Mexico is the country with the worst performance in the implementation of internationally recommended [social distancing and] public health policies. (Page 34)

"The torpor and inconsistency of the response of [#AMLO's] federal government pushed, as we have seen, civil society and state and local governments towards the front lines of action facing the pandemic." (Page 35)

"'Mexico had time to prepare' is a phrase that's repeated in our public discourse. It's difficult to know that with all we could have learned during this time...our country lagged and continues to lag in the work of learning from the [rest of] the world's experience." (Page 45)

#Covid19 recommendations for Mexico🇲🇽 & the 🌎:

1. Test, test, test!
2. 🧑‍⚕️🩺&🏥 are 🔑
3. Economic aid💵is just as important as🏥 health policy response
4. 🔎& trace infections
5. Use 😷!
6. Transparency is 🔑
7. Re-opening shouldn't be pressured. (🏥>💵)

In March the @WHO advised countries to "test, test, test. Test every case."

In 🇲🇽 @SSalud_mx spokesman @HLGatell told the public that wide-scale testing "lacks technical & scientific sense"

He also warned AGAINST testing asymptomatic individuals, including President #AMLO p81

"In Mexico the government argued that there wasn't clear evidence between the number of tests performed and the containment of the disease. [In 🇲🇽] it was recommended that people with symptoms stay in isolation in their homes til they recovered or needed hospital assistance."

In 🇲🇽, "the acquisition of adequate equipment has been erratic. In early April, these [PPE] materials were still being bought by each hospital. [Coordinated] purchases of tests, ventilators, & masks started 24 days after the first Covid-19 case was registered in the country." p89

In Mexico, doctors & nurses have paid the price for #AMLO's poor planning & pandemic management.

"Mexico is among the countries that have worst managed the pandemic."

@amnesty reports that 1320 health workers have died of Covid in 🇲🇽, the most of any country in the 🌎. (p91)

"The 🇲🇽 government's main error is its absence in facing the most damaging effect of the crisis, unemployment and inactivity. For millions, risking contagion or be left without means to support [themselves] was a cruel but real dilemma." p108

"The economic crisis caused by the health crisis had as a response, surprisingly, more and more austerity, [a fact that] that turned economic policy into an ingredient that deepened the crisis instead of acting as a shock absorber." p 109

This report contains advice on what 🇲🇽(#AMLO) could do to better control the Covid-19 pandemic:

-Collect more & better quality data
-Use precise epidemiology
-Encourage people with symptoms to seek medical help
-Advise public on risks of spending time in enclosed spaces
(p 125)