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As COVID-19 Cases Mount, Thousands Of Sonorans Return To Work

Tens of thousands of Sonorans are heading back to work this week, after a gradual reopening for some industries started Monday.

A few weeks back, the Mexican government deemed construction, mining and transportation manufacturing essential businesses. In Sonora, they employ around 140,000 people, and a sizable percentage of them are back at work this week, the first of Mexico’s reopening. That’s according to Luis Nunez, Sonora’s reopening spokesman.

“They are a series of extraordinary measures, beyond those put in place by the (Mexican federal government),” he said of a state guide for reopening companies.

Among them is weekly testing of five percent of workers for businesses with more than 250 people, and restricting occupancy to 50% on worker transports.

The reopening comes as cases are growing quickly in the state, with 16 new deaths announced Sunday. Some state officials have expressed worry about the gradual reopening.

→  Read The Latest News On The Coronavirus Disease 

Murphy Woodhouse was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2018 to 2023.