Territorial Strategy of Medical Units for Addressing the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City: Analysis of Mobility, Accessibility and Marginalization.

Mateo Carlos Galindo-Pérez,Ana Rosa Rosales-Tapia,Oliva López-Arellano,Luis Alonso Herrera,Guillermo De Anda-Jauregui,Claudia Sheinbaum-Pardo,Ofelia Angulo-Guerrero,Rosaura Ruiz-Gutiérrez,Arturo Revuelta-Herrera,José Sifuentes-Osornio,Héctor Benítez-Pérez,David Kershenobich-Stalnikowitz,Manuel Suárez,Enrique Hernández-Lemus,Juan Luis Díaz-De-León-Santiago

doi:10.3390/ijerph19020665

Abstract

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an exponential increase in the demand for medical care worldwide. In Mexico, the COVID Medical Units (CMUs) conversion strategy was implemented. Objective. To evaluate the CMU coverage strategy in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) by territory. Materials. The CMU directory was used, as were COVID-19 infection and mobility statistics and Mexican 2020 census information at the urban geographic area scale. The degree of urban marginalization by geographic area was also considered. Method. Using descriptive statistics and the calculation of a CMU accessibility index, population aggregates were counted based on coverage radii. In addition, two regression models are proposed to explain (1) the territorial and temporal trend of COVID-19 infections in the MCMA and (2) the mobility of the COVID-infected population visiting medical units. Results. The findings of the evaluation of the CMU strategy were (1) in the MCMA, COVID-19 followed a pattern of contagion from the urban center to the periphery; (2) given the growth in the number of cases and the overload of medical units, the population traveled greater distances to seek medical care; (3) after the CMU strategy was evaluated at the territory level, it was found that 9 out of 10 inhabitants had a CMU located approximately 7 km away; and (4) at the metropolitan level, the lowest level of accessibility to the CMU was recorded for the population with the highest levels of marginalization, i.e., those residing in the urban periphery.

Highlights

The first outbreak of 27 cases of COVID-19 pneumonia was recorded in Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019
The regression model indicates that the number of infections at the cutoff date was higher in those municipalities in which the first case occurred closer to the date of the metropolitan index case
Mexico employed a COVID hospital strategy that consisted of converting a set of hospitals to provide care exclusively for those infected by COVID-19

Summary

Introduction

The first outbreak of 27 cases of COVID-19 pneumonia was recorded in Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019 Since this outbreak, the disease rapidly disseminated worldwide [1,2], and the number of infections and deaths increased exponentially throughout the world in the first quarter of 2020. The disease rapidly disseminated worldwide [1,2], and the number of infections and deaths increased exponentially throughout the world in the first quarter of 2020 This was recorded by countries such as the USA [3], Spain [4], Italy [5] and England and Wales [6]. A week later, on 2 April 2020, a state of emergency was declared throughout the country During this initial phase of the pandemic, Mexico ranked third in the world in the number of recorded infections and deaths, behind the USA and Brazil

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion