Tourists looking to visit Mexican and Quintana Roo communities Cancun and Playa del Carmen in the last week of January will need to be prepared for increased COVID-19-related safety measures.
Governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez announced on Thursday that the northern part of his state will move to the orange epidemiological light for that seven-day period.
This move means that businesses must only be filled up to 30% capacity, down from 60%, and stricter compliance with sanitary protocols must be observed.
Supervisory operations are being deployed to places such as high-traffic public spaces and public transportation vehicles to ensure that this occurs. Rapid tests and screening will also take place at “strategic points.”
Gonzalez added that this light will need to be changed to red, resulting in a complete lockdown, if the local COVID-19 infection rate continues rising at a high rate.
Local officials have also worked towards ensuring that COVID-19 tests are readily available for Americans and others who will be returning to the United States after their trip to Quintana Roo.
This is because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that a testing requirement for those entering the U.S., including American citizens and permanent residents, will go into effect on Jan. 26.
The intent is for tourists to be able to take a COVID-19 test in the hotel that they are staying at; more than 60% of them do offer this option. Regardless of where it is taken, anybody entering the U.S. must present a negative antigen test that had been taken within the previous 72 hours.
Quintana Roo has experienced tremendous tourism figures as compared to much of the rest of the world. International travelers have seen their options get severely limited, but Mexico has blocked few from crossing its border, which has helped cause these high traveler numbers.
However, the CDC has placed Mexico at “Level 4: Very High Level of COVID-19,” meaning that “travelers should avoid all travel to Mexico.”