As of today, Baja’s northern half of the Peninsula is reporting 1,047 confirmed cases with 136 deaths. But many are asking what are the real numbers?

TIJUANA – The official count on COVID-19 stats here in Baja California today surpassed 1,000 cases, with 1,047 people reported as infected with coronavirus and 136 dead due to this disease.

This was reported by the state secretary of Health, Alonso Pérez Rico, who urged the population to stay home, especially older adults with diabetes, hypertension or obesity.

State health officials also warned that as the pandemic continues to develop, the figures will likely continue to rise rapidly, especially during the first two weeks of May.

Pérez Rico insisted that the state public healthcare system has the capacity to cope with the coronavirus contingency, in spite of ongoing complaints from the many local citizens including some notable and widely shared cases of video complaints made on social media about delays in care, lack of supplies and the overall ICU saturation at the Tijuana General Hospital and IMSS Clinics.

Suppressing COVID19 cases / deaths?

An increasing number of reports are appearing on social media, accusing the state authorities of suppressing the real numbers related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Looking at the current official numbers of 1,047 people reported as infected and 136 deaths would indicate that either the virus is much deadlier here south of the border or more likely due to a lack of respirators and compounded by not all those displaying symptoms being tested.

More troubling still are an increasing number of reports of deaths from COVID19 here in the state being attributed to other factors.

We personally know of one case in Tijuana involving a 44 year old man who walked into a Tijuana hospital with flu like symptoms. Within hours his condition had quickly degraded and he was sedated and placed on a respirator.

Family members who attempted to visit him were turned away by a nurse, told that he had coronavirus and was in full ICU isolation. Days later while still sedated and on a respirator he went into full cardiac arrest and died.

When the family attempted to inquire about the circumstances of his death, they were told that he had died from a massive heart – no mention of coronavirus.

Approaching the nurse who had told them he had coronavirus, she simply shrugged her shoulders and told them that an administrator had ordered the records change for a number of patients, including their relative.

Doctors from different hospitals throughout Mexico are now reporting increasing numbers of suspected cases of COVID-19 that are being registered as “atypical pneumonia” with the recorded deaths caused by atypical pneumonia now skyrocketing in the last few weeks.

People here aren’t buying it and the hashtag #NeumoniaAtipica is trending…