BajaNomad - San Diego Concerned with Covid-19 Patient Increases from Baja Residents & Travelers

San Diego Concerned with Covid-19 Patient Increases from Baja Residents & Travelers

BajaNomad - 5-2-2020 at 04:50 AM

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The leaders of Scripps Health and Sharp HealthCare are reporting that their Chula Vista hospitals are currently caring for more COVID-19 positive patients and patients under investigation than any of their other acute-care hospitals combined.

In a letter just sent to federal health officials, both health care organizations are requesting urgent action on behalf of providers along the U.S-Mexico border. The letter reads in part, "The inadequacy of medical resources in the state of Baja California, including the testing necessary to respond to COVID-19, poses a very real threat to San Diego's ability to manage both its COVID‐19 response and its expedient reopening of the economy."

The health care organizations report that Baja is reporting a surge in positive cases with a lack of infrastructure and resources.

https://www.10news.com/news/coronavirus/chula-vista-hospital...

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On Tuesday... there were nine COVID-19 patients in the Scripps Chula Vista emergency room. Five of the nine said they had traveled across the border recently.

“There are an increasing number of individuals with recent travel or residing to Baja California who are presenting,” said Dr. Eric McDonald, the county’s epidemiology director, at a press conference Wednesday. “We are tracking that carefully. It is an increasing trend and is certainly part of the increasing cases being seen in Baja California.”

Gaspar said she thinks, on average, about 10 coronavirus border-related cases are added to San Diego hospitals each day.

“Due to the nature of our dynamic region, any time we see an increase in cases in San Diego, most likely Tijuana will also experience an increase as well,” said Justine Kozo, chief of the county’s Office of Border Health. “We have seen this happen in the past, including during the rise of meningococcal disease in our region in 2013.”

But the coronavirus outbreak has been unique, especially in the way it’s been impacting Tijuana, Kozo said.

“The difference with COVID-19 is that Tijuana is facing a different kind of crisis,” Kozo said. “While San Diego is reviewing its various indicators and metrics to possibly dial down restrictions, just a few miles south of us, Tijuana is experiencing immense challenges, including shortages of personal protective equipment and ventilators, tests, health care personnel and a lack of hospital beds and staff to care for sick patients. Their hospitals are at or near capacity.”

As of Monday, there were 1,301 confirmed coronavirus cases and 167 deaths in Baja California. The death rate for COVID-19 patients in Tijuana is 15 percent; in San Diego it’s less than 4 percent. Hospitals in Tijuana are “a war zone” and on the brink of collapse, Telemundo reported. Doctors and nurses in one Tijuana hospital told the Union-Tribune that often by the time they get test results back, their patients are already dead.

Of the 292 non-resident cases in San Diego County, only 15 are Mexican nationals, said county spokeswoman Sarah Sweeney. One-third of the 292 are cases related to cruise ships and the remainder are residents of other counties, states or countries.

But the big concern are U.S. citizens who may be living in Baja California or recently traveled there.

There are approximately 265,000 U.S. citizens living in Baja California. And while border crossings have decreased significantly because of restrictions put in place in March, tens of thousands of people still cross each day.

“At present, there is not a high number of individuals with suspected COVID-19 crossing the Baja California-California border in need of medical care, but it is increasing,” Kozo said. “Since the Baja California hospital system is facing significant challenges, this could influence an increase in individuals crossing the border in need of medical care at present and, even more so, in the near future. Still, currently, the number is small, and we have the capacity in our hospital system to support an increase in patients.”

Gaspar, Gross and Van Gorder agree that border-related cases haven’t yet reached a point where San Diego is greatly impacted, but they want to keep it that way. Their requests from the federal government include additional border screenings, like temperature checks, and quarantining border-crossers if necessary. Gaspar said some of the hotel rooms the county has accumulated could potentially be used to help quarantine people who don’t have a place to isolate on the U.S. side of the border.

They also proposed that the federal government provide aid to Mexico to treat COVID-19 patients and provide additional personal protective equipment and staffing.

Kozo said the county is facilitating fundraising to get more resources to Tijuana through the International Community Fund.

Van Gorder said there has been some talk of San Diego health care providers sharing equipment with Tijuana, but “but none of the health care systems have so much supply that they can give it away at this time. Our core responsibility is to help our patients in San Diego.”

Gross and Van Gorder also made a plea in their letter that more personal protective equipment be sent to San Diego.

Gaspar also proposed setting up a temporary hospital at the border, similar to a field hospital set up at Palomar’s Escondido Medical Center to accommodate additional coronavirus patients if regional hospitals start nearing their capacities or the triage tents set up by UCSD to assess suspected COVID-19 patients.

https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/what-we-know-abo...

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With counts of COVID-19 patients now rising rapidly just north of California's border with Mexico, hospital executives here are asking federal officials to move "immediately" to screen the tens of thousands of people crossing every day from densely populated Tijuana, a city of 2 million people, and other parts of the Baja peninsula.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/86219

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Also:
https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition-segments/2...

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Reference of the # of confirmed Covid-19 cases geographically in San Diego County:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/96feda7...

JZ - 5-2-2020 at 05:51 AM

^There are approximately 265,000 U.S. citizens living in Baja California."

Whoa. Is this a true number?

[Edited on 5-2-2020 by JZ]

lizard lips - 5-2-2020 at 07:34 AM

My son is a staff physician at a large hospital in Hermosillo and because the government does not have enough masks and other protection he must buy his own at a private store in the city. More and more patients have increased with the virus day after day. These patients are sequestered in a private area and because my son is a Orthopedic Surgeon he doesn't come directly into contact with those that are suffering with this. It blows me away that the government of Mexico allows those in the medical field to be unprotected.

I went to San Diego a few days ago and had no issues crossing north or south but after I crossed the last toll in San Miguel in Ensenada about two miles south you were made to stop and a nurse took your temperature and asked where I was going. I showed her my Mexican Drivers License and was allowed to pass. I asked her what is someone doesn't have proof that they live further south and she said they will be turned around. I believe this will be in force for quite awhile and actually thankful that it's happening.

Who really knows whats best in a situation like this but if you do nothing it will only get worse.

Pacifico - 5-2-2020 at 09:42 AM

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

^There are approximately 265,000 U.S. citizens living in Baja California."

Whoa. Is this a true number?

[Edited on 5-2-2020 by JZ]

Seems crazy high!!!

Alm - 5-2-2020 at 05:20 PM

How could they tell the number of gringos when they don't know how many are crossing the border in and out? Maybe 265,000 is the total number of RT/RP visas issued since some unspecified date.

"Officially" it's not terribly bad in BC- in Ensenada on April 30 there were 20 ventilators total, 11 occupied.

mtgoat666 - 5-2-2020 at 06:18 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Pacifico

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

^There are approximately 265,000 U.S. citizens living in Baja California."

Whoa. Is this a true number?

[Edited on 5-2-2020 by JZ]

Seems crazy high!!!

does not seem high. state dept says 1.5M USA citizens live in Mexico, and 265,000 living in Baja seems plausible. I see many gringos living in TJ-Ensenada corridor, San Felipe, etc.

here are some facts for you that Mr Google provided during some surfing today:

According to a study by the National Institute of Geography and Statistics, around 739,168 thousand American citizens lived in Mexico in 2015 and, according to the National Institute of Immigration, of those only 65,302 were legal residents.

That means that 91.2 percent of estadounidenses living in Mexico in 2015 were there “illegally”.

And that number has risen. More recent statistics from the State Department report that almost a million Americans are currently residing in Mexico and, of those, 934,698 are there illegally.

91% of gringos living in mexico are illegals!!!

Paco Facullo - 5-2-2020 at 06:39 PM

Gringo's in Mexico illegally

Mexican's in America illegally

Sounds bout Even-Steven....

Whats a boarder, besides a line drawn in the sand between two governments ?

Alm - 5-2-2020 at 08:50 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

91% of gringos living in mexico are illegals!!!

Most of those illegal gringos are retirees or running some business from Mexico - not necessarily "in Mexico", without bothering themselves with resident status. They entered legally and can renew FMM pretty much indefinitely, though this doesn't make them legal residents.

Most illegal Mexicans in the USA are working in the USA or are their family members. Many have entered illegally or don't have any updated INS paper.

[Edited on 5-3-2020 by Alm]

mtgoat666 - 5-2-2020 at 09:45 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Alm

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

91% of gringos living in mexico are illegals!!!

are you saying the gringo’s crime is acceptable, but the mexican’s crime is not?

Seems like they are all economically motivated. Gringos living in Mexico illegally because it’s cheaper than USA, and Mexicans working in USA because the pay/opportunities are better in USA.

Alm - 5-3-2020 at 11:45 AM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

are you saying the gringo’s crime is acceptable, but the mexican’s crime is not?

Nope. I didn't call it crime - you did.
Permanent "visitor" with papers and somebody completely illegal in the country are two different kinds of violation - if renewing FMM is a violation at all. But let's not deviate.

How can anybody accurately estimate the number of Americans staying in Baja at any given time? There are no commercial flights to this state from the US, there is no exit control from the US - or hasn't been until recently, and there is hardly an entry control by Mexico, cars are just passing through.

[Edited on 5-3-2020 by Alm]

mtgoat666 - 5-3-2020 at 11:57 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Alm

How can anybody accurately estimate the number of Americans staying in Baja at any given time?

usa cbp collect lots of data on each gringo crossing back into usa, they can probably discern crossers living status in mexico via the data they collect.
everytime you answer questions for cbp the data goes in their database (they always ask purpose of trip every time i cross the border, i am pretty sure they put that down in my permanent record)

Alm - 5-3-2020 at 12:05 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

usa cbp collect lots of data on each gringo crossing back into usa, they can probably discern crossers living status in mexico via the data they collect.

They don't know when you exited the USA and how many people you brought to Mexico. I doubt they are getting a reliable entry statistics from Mexican side. Regardless of your status in Mexico.

ligui - 5-3-2020 at 12:11 PM

Hi everyone. Don't worry it'll all just disappear.

Experts predict ‘the largest spike’ of COVID-19 cases, deaths in Baja over next two weeks

BajaNaranja - 5-5-2020 at 09:28 AM

From May 4, https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/south-count...

Quote from article: "...experts on the north side of the border believe that Tijuana’s COVID-19 surge could impact hospitals in San Diego County. Roughly 265,000 U.S. citizens live in Baja California."

And, at the end of the article: "The growing number of COVID-19 cases in the South Bay prompted leaders of two hospitals to ask the federal government for help.

In an unprecedented letter sent to the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Scripps CEO Chris Van Gorder and Sharp Executive President Dan Gross said the volume of patients is straining resources and that the “public health crisis does not respect borders.”

“Any impression that we are flattening our curve ignores the threat south of the border and the fact that providers in the San Diego region do not have adequate supplies to meet the projections we anticipate as a result of the increasing cases in our border communities,” the letter states."

Coronavirus Crosses Borders, Causing Surge in California...

BajaNaranja - 5-12-2020 at 01:04 PM

Coronavirus Crosses Borders, Causing Surge in California Community Near Mexico

Officials in San Diego suburb attribute rise in cases to legal crossings from nearby Tijuana, one of Mexico’s hardest-hit cities

By Alicia A. Caldwell, Melanie Evans and Santiago Pérez
May 11, 2020 9:44 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-crosses-borders-cau...

CHULA VISTA, Calif.—Hospitals in this border city south of San Diego are struggling to cope with a large number of Covid-19 patients, an influx they attribute to legal crossings from nearby Tijuana, one of Mexico’s cities hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Health-care nonprofit Scripps Health says it already is near capacity for patients critically ill with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, at its Chula Vista hospital. Sharp HealthCare, which owns Chula Vista’s largest hospital, had to turn away ambulances during some busy days last month, according to the hospital.

As more states, including California, ease social-distancing restrictions, the crisis south of San Diego illustrates a new threat: that Mexico’s struggles to tackle the pandemic could spill over into the U.S.

San Diego County has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in California, behind only Los Angeles and its neighbor Riverside County. Within San Diego County, Chula Vista and nearby communities have the highest rate of infections per 100,000 people and the number has been rising. In Chula Vista, it was 234 per 100,000 as of Wednesday, compared with 172 a week earlier, and 133 for the county overall, San Diego County data show.

Dr. Juan Tovar, an emergency physician and chief operating executive for Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista, said the influx is mostly people who have dual citizenship or dual residence and habitually cross back and forth, rather than Mexicans coming into the U.S. without legal authorization.

“We’re growing because our Baja community is coming here for testing and treatment,” said Lornna Hopping, a nurse and manager of the emergency department at Scripps’ Chula Vista hospital. “Whatever happens there is significantly going to have an impact on us, and vice versa.”

The U.S.-Mexico border was closed in late March to nonessential travel.

That month, more than 531,000 pedestrians crossed the border near San Diego, alongside more than 1.6 million vehicle passengers, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In March 2019, more than 930,000 pedestrians crossed along with more than two million vehicle passengers.

Data for April isn’t yet available. But in the past few weeks there has been a steady increase in Americans who live in Mexico coming north to work and others heading south to go shopping, said Roy Ojeda, a parking attendant at a lot near the border.

The El Centro Regional Medical Center outside Calexico, a California border city east of San Diego, also saw significant growth in coronavirus cases in April, said Adolphe Edward, chief executive of the hospital.

Hospital officials in the border states of Arizona and Texas haven’t reported similar situations. But no border city in Mexico, has been as hard hit as Tijuana or has as many Americans citizens living in it—about 250,000.

Tijuana, population about 2.1 million, has reported 279 deaths from Covid-19, and Mexico’s Baja California state has conducted about 5,000 tests for the virus. San Diego County, by contrast, reported Friday roughly 76,000 people had been tested for the virus, with 175 deaths among its 3.3 million residents.

Sharp and Scripps executives have asked federal officials to begin checking people’s temperatures at the border and to impose mandatory quarantine for those entering the U.S. who are suspected of being infected.

Officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Tijuana is a magnet for Mexican and foreign migrants seeking to enter the U.S. or find factory jobs. Dense and mobile populations make a city more likely to be a hub for transmission of the coronavirus.

In addition, about 1,000 Mexicans deported by the U.S. arrive in Tijuana each week, said Carlos Mora, founder of the Migrant Affairs Council in Baja California. Mexican authorities have said some migrants deported from the U.S. have tested positive for Covid-19.

Southern California hospitals say more testing, medicine and protective gear are urgently needed along the border.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency said FEMA is working with distributors to bring medical products to markets of particular concern, including San Diego. On Saturday, an official from the Department of Homeland Security met with San Diego County hospital executives to assess the situation, according to local hospitals.

Melody Thomas, director of clinical services at the Scripps hospitals in Chula Vista and San Diego, is one of the tens of thousands of American citizens who live in Tijuana and work in the U.S. The Philadelphia native said that while she takes careful precautions given her job, she fears a relaxation of stay-at-home orders in San Diego that began Friday will boost the already high number of cases in the area as more people venture out, including across the border.

“I haven’t seen any screening coming into the U.S. or going into Mexico,” Ms. Thomas said. About 25% of her patients come from Tijuana and the surrounding state of Baja California.

Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista now has roughly 30 to 35 beds occupied by Covid-19 patients on any given day, the most it can handle. The hospital transfers patients to San Diego when it reaches capacity.

On a recent Monday, 17 of the intensive care unit’s 24 beds were occupied with Covid-19 patients. The entire ward has been converted to negative pressure rooms to ensure while clean air can enter the room, potentially contaminated particles don’t escape.