Mexico warns of coronavirus rebound from big holiday crowds

Authorities have said cemeteries will remain closed, and the government of Mexico City, the country's largest metropolis, warns that tighter coronavirus curbs may be on their way as hospitalizations rise. From a public health standpoint, Mexico's cemeteries "become areas of high risk for contagion" during the annual celebration, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell told reporters on Tuesday.

Mexico is doubling down on its public health message to avoid big crowds in order to avert a second wave of coronavirus infections as annual festivities approach, including the Day of the Dead, which traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of people nationwide.

The Nov. 1-2 Day of the Dead celebration blends Catholic rituals and the pre-Hispanic belief that the dead return once a year from the underworld as cemeteries and houses shine with bright orange marigold flowers. Authorities have said cemeteries will remain closed, and the government of Mexico City, the country's largest metropolis, warns that tighter coronavirus curbs may be on their way as hospitalizations rise.

From a public health standpoint, Mexico's cemeteries "become areas of high risk for contagion" during the annual celebration, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell told reporters on Tuesday. He added at his nightly news conference that COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen in recent days, reversing a downward trend that began at the end of July. He suggested that faster detection of the virus or growing numbers of infections - or both factors combined - could be responsible.

"We have early signs of an uptick in the pandemic," he said. Some Mexicans lamented not being able to commemorate Day of the Dead.

"Every year we go to see my mother. This is the first since she died that we're not going to go and it's very sad," said 49-year-old Claudia Morales in the municipality of Ocotlan, in the central state of Tlaxcala. A representative from the rural community of Cuaxomulco in Tlaxcala state said authorities there decided not to close the cemetery after public outrage.

Lopez-Gatell said another "high risk opportunity" for infections is the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Dec. 12, when upwards of 3 million pilgrims every year flock to the Catholic basilica in Mexico City to honor the nation's patron saint. Both festivities, along with Christmas, come as the weather is turning colder, which authorities fear could lead to more infections.

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