Mexico president refuses face mask after Covid-19 recovery
- President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador returns to public life after weeks of treatment
- Mexico’s virus death toll is the third-highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins data
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Monday said he would not wear a face mask after his recovery from Covid-19, in spite of widespread support from top officials and the public for the measure.
“No, no,” the president said. “Additionally, according to what the doctors say, now I’m not contagious.”
When first asked on Monday whether he would set an example by wearing a mask, he skipped the question and instead launched into a polemic about his adversaries trying to thwart him.
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The popular president is a strong advocate of free speech, and has used his daily morning news conferences to pillory opponents. Some critics argue he is unwilling to do anything that might make him look like he was being muzzled.
Unlike many of his top officials, Lopez Obrador has shunned face masks throughout the pandemic. His attitude, however, goes against the grain of Mexican public opinion, which is overwhelmingly of the view that wearing one is useful, polls show.
Following the president’s positive diagnosis, some Mexicans said they thought he could have avoided getting infected had he worn a mask and respected social-distancing measures more.
But Lopez Obrador praised his government for not imposing stricter curbs to contain the virus, which has killed more than 166,000 people in Mexico, the world’s third-highest death toll.
Many residents of Mexico City have been unable to find beds at Mexico City’s overcrowded hospitals, and have been forced to treat sick relatives at home. Lopez Obrador was treated at the flat where he lives in the city’s National Palace.
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“I came through well, healthy,” Lopez Obrador said, noting he had been doing breathing exercises as well. “We are back on our feet again, in fighting style.”
Despite Mexico’s dearth of vaccines – the country hasn’t received new shipments in weeks, and is down to its last 55,000 doses – Lopez Obrador repeated his faith that the country will get enough vaccines from Pfizer, Russia, China and India to vaccinate all Mexicans over 60 by the end of March.
That would imply the daunting task of giving about 15 million people at least one dose in just a month and a half.
He said he had received antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatment from January 25 and that he will now wait for his turn to be inoculated.
“I want to express my solidarity with the families of the victims, with those who have suffered from this terrible disease,” Lopez Obrador said. “In my case I was well cared for, in a timely manner.”
Reuters, Associated Press and Bloomberg
