In the morning edition of the Federation’s Official Gazette of May 14, 2020, the Ministry of Health issued a resolution to establish the strategy for the reopening of social, educational and economic activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as a regional process to assess the epidemiological risk in each state based on a colored “traffic light” system, which will be in effect until the day the sanitary emergency is declared terminated.

It is established that the reopening of social, educational and economic activities that were suspended as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic under the terms of the resolutions published in the Federation’s Official Gazette on March 31, 2020 and April 6 of the same year, will be restarted based on a strategy comprised of the following three stages.

• The first one will start on May 18, 2020 and consists of the unrestricted reopening of economic activities in municipalities without confirmed cases of Covid-19 and that is not next to municipalities with cases of contagion.

• The second stage will be from May 18 to May 31, 2020 and will consist of carrying out actions aimed at reopening economic activities through the preparation of protocols, training of employees, reconfiguration of workspaces and access controls to establishments as provided in the safety and hygiene guidelines that are published by the Ministry of Health, in coordination with those of Labor, Economy and the Mexican Institute of Social Security.

• The last stage will start on June 1, 2020 and considers the restart of social, educational and economic activities in the rest of the country based on the below «traffic light» system by regions that will be assessed on a weekly basis:

Additionally, the list of essential activities included in the March 31, 2020 resolution is expanded to include mining, construction and manufacturing in the transportation industry. The latter should be understood as the automotive and auto-parts sectors.

These new essential industries will be allowed to start operations at a national level from June 1, 2020, regardless of the aforementioned “traffic light” system.

The so-called “Municipalities of Hope” (Municipios de la Esperanza), namely those without confirmed Covid-19 cases and not located next to a municipality with confirmed contagions, will resume starting on May 18, 2020 school activities, mobilization in closed or open public spaces and activities regardless they are considered essential or non-essential.

By May 17, 2020, the Ministry of Health will announce the municipalities that are considered in this group, as well as the prevention and control measures that must be observed.

The Partners, Counsels and Associates of our labor, administrative and health practice groups, together with their associates, are available to comment in more detail the contents of this note.

Jorge De Presno
jorgedepresno@basham.com.mx

Juan Carlos Serra
serra@basham.com.mx

Alvaro Gonzalez
agonzalez@basham.com.mx

Rodolfo Barreda
rbarreda@basham.com.mx

Ricardo Evangelista
revangelista@basham.com.mx