But Mexico is also pursuing an unorthodox strategy. It’s relying less on tests, and more on its own disease modeling, to guide its response to the pandemic. As Central American neighbors declared emergencies in mid-March, Mexico kept its airports, shops and government offices open — the government didn’t urge a broad stay-at-home policy until last week.

 

Mexico’s approach amounts to a bet, its coronavirus czar acknowledges — “a bet that’s technically sound,” Hugo López-Gatell said in an interview. Authorities are wagering they can fine-tune their response to the virus, even as it’s outwitted health officials in the United States and Europe.

 

* * *

 

Keeping those workers home when it’s not absolutely necessary, López-Gatell said, can cause “frightening damage.”

 

But if it turns out Mexico waited too long to introduce restrictions, analysts warn, it could suffer a crisis like Italy’s or New York’s — with far fewer resources. Mexico has half as many hospital beds per capita as the United States, and a quarter as many nurses, according to OECD statistics.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-mexico-us-border-covid-19/2020/03/30/18ad79b2-7061-11ea-a156-0048b62cdb51_story.html