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For example, this timeline slide. Dec 28: Flight from Amsterdam to Mexico City. Dec 29: Flight to Matamoros.
GAP: Where did he spend the night of Dec. 28th? How did he get to location? Where did he eat? Who did he come into prolonged contact with during his time in Mexico City?
GAP: Where did he spend the night of Dec. 28th? How did he get to location? Where did he eat? Who did he come into prolonged contact with during his time in Mexico City?
Answer those questions would imply a process of contact tracing, which isn't really done here. At least not in the rigorous sense of what the term is understood to mean within international scientific circles. Some motions were gone through in this case, which I'll get to later.
Upon arrival in Matamoros airport, the pre-symptomatic traveller was taken to a hotel (how? by whom?). Due to protocol of the company he was in town to work for, was administered a PCR test by a private lab. Test result came back positive same day. Second test performed Dec 31st.
Dec 31st public lab test confirms positive result. Given the prior of recent int'l travel, patient's sample is sent to govt lab in Mexico City for sequencing Jan 2.
GAP: Where was patient isolating and who was in contact with him during that time? Were staff informed of risk?
GAP: Where was patient isolating and who was in contact with him during that time? Were staff informed of risk?
It should be noted that a week prior to the patient's arrival in Mexico, other nations began restricting UK arrivals in an effort to prevent the variant from reaching and circulating within their populations. These kinds of restrictions were shrugged off by health officials here.
Also worth noting is that in the window of time from patient's govt lab test confirmation and the sample arriving in CDMX for sequencing, Mexico was breaking daily caseload records and the "coronavirus czar" had clocked out for a holiday beach vacation. https://twitter.com/SYoungReports/status/1345473153582190594
By the time the "coronavirus czar" returned to work Jan 4th, Mexico's B117 patient zero was hospitalized in Matamoros. Patient was intubated y'day. Gene sequencing of the test sample sent from Matamoros Jan 2 confirmed the B117 variant today. So, about that "contact tracing"...
In tonight's presentation Dr. Alomía describes the official contact tracing effort: by following up with passengers and crew of the CDMX-Matamoros flight. Total PCR tests applied? Two. What about the flight that brought the patient to Mexico City? No word.
Mexico City's airport is the busiest in the country and a hub for connecting domestic flights. Following up with passengers from that Amsterdam-CDMX flight does not appear to be an official concern or priority. Int'l arrivals have to fill out questionnaires, but no test required.
Health officials are not looking for the B117 variant in the community. Govt protocol calls for sequencing when a person with a recent history of travel from Europe tests + for SARS-CoV-2. It's reminiscent of Mexico's COVID testing policy from early March. https://www.gob.mx/salud/prensa/274-secretaria-de-salud-intensifica-busqueda-de-nueva-variante-de-sars-cov-2-identificada-en-reino-unido?idiom=es
Given all the hoops one has to jump through to qualify for a public health system PCR test in Mexico, it's unlikely we'd know today about the B117 variant case were it not for the Matamoros company's testing protocol that led to its detection in patient's pre-symptom onset phase.
