Mexico's deputy health minister who once dismissed wearing a face mask to prevent COVID-19 is hospitalized after testing positive
Mexico's coronavirus czar has spent the last five days in a hospital receiving treatment for a COVID-19 infection.
Ruy López, head of the National Center of Preventative Programs and Disease Control [Cenaprece], said Sunday that Hugo López-Gatell was recovering well and that he was slated to be dismissed from the Mexico City facility.
Seen as the face of Mexico's response to the pandemic, López-Gatell has often drawn criticism for downplaying the need for face masks and for spearheading a strategy of limited testing.
'Masks or face masks give a false sense of security. There are other ways to get infected, for example, by touching your face,' López-Gatell said during an April 2020 press conference. 'The call is not to waste using them unnecessarily as a protection mechanism that does not have strong scientific evidence.'
The announcement of his hospital stay came as the nation marked the one-year anniversary of its first confirmed coronavirus infection.
Hugo López-Gatell, Mexico's deputy health minister, has been hospitalized since last Wednesday due to a coronavirus infection
Despite seen as the face of Mexico's combat against the COVID-19 pandemic, Hugo López-Gatell has in the past dismissed the use of a face mask as a preventive measure against the coronavirus
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was infected with the coronavirus back in January
The Secretariat of Health initially denied reports that López-Gatell was confined to a hospital bed and aided by an oxygen tank, instead saying he was home and stable.
But López-Gatell was admitted for 'early hospitalization' last Wednesday after his medical team determined he required supplemental oxygen.
'I publicly share that I have # COVID19. I started with symptoms last night, fortunately they are mild,' López-Gatell tweeted February 20. 'The antigen test came back positive and I'm waiting for the PCR. I will be working from home, pending the vaccination strategy.'
Meanwhile, he was spotted boarding a commercial airplane without a face mask in December. In January he was also seen without a mask inside a restaurant in the southern state of Oaxaca.
According to data released by Johns Hopkins University on Monday, Mexico had registered 185,715 fatalities from the coronavirus, the world's fourth-highest death toll.
Hugo López-Gatell's (pictured) hospitalization was confirmed Sunday by Ruy López, head of the National Center of Preventative Programs and Disease Control [Cenaprece], moments after the Secretariat of Health had announced that he was home doing well
Hugo López-Gatell broke the news that he was infected with the coronavirus by releasing a tweet in Spanish that read: 'I publicly share that I have # COVID19. I started with symptoms last night, fortunately they are mild. The antigen test came back positive and I'm waiting for the PCR. I will be working from home, pending the vaccination strategy'
Mexico has registered 185,715 fatalities from the coronavirus, the world's fourth-highest death toll
The epidemiologist announced testing positive for COVID-19 on February 20, after experiencing light symptoms.
A number of high-level officials in Mexico have contracted the virus, including President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has shunned face masks.
Mexico registered another 458 coronavirus fatalities and 2,810 more confirmed infections on Sunday, for a total of 2,086,938 cases. The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
According to López-Gatell, at least 2,455,095 coronavirus vaccines have been applied in Mexico, the first country in Latin American to administer the immunization shot.
So? Masks do NOTHING. 80 % wearing them caught it.
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