The Mexican federal government says Sonora, the Mexican state to Arizona’s south, no longer has the most serious rating on a national pandemic scale.
For the coming week, Sonora will be considered orange, a step below red, where it had been for a number of weeks. That announcement was not welcomed by some top Sonoran officials, including Health Secretary Enrique Clausen.
“We’re telling you that it’s not time to move to orange,” he said during his nightly video update Sunday. “And we’re asking for patience. This is not the time to lower our guard.”
He cited as evidence the many hospitals in the state at or near capacity. At orange, nonessential businesses are allowed to operate at reduced capacity. Prior to the change, some nonessential businesses had already been opening in the state.
Sonora has recently seen rapid coronavirus spread, with a new daily confirmed case record set last week. Confirmed deaths are fast approaching 1,500, according to the most recent state data available.
