On a street in western Mexico City, dozens of people buy oxygen for their relatives who are sick with Covid-19. I queue for up to five hours for a recharge that in some cases only takes 60 minutes.
Resign, step forward at the door of a private company, where an employee collects the tanks to mark them with the customer’s name.
“Alert, alert, we’re in a covid emergency!”, repeats in front of the line, at maximum volume, a recording broadcast through the loudspeaker of a police patrol.
Eduardo Martínez, a 33-year-old biochemist, knows this very well, queuing for an hour to fill his mother’s tank, diagnosed with the new coronavirus last Tuesday.
Anticipating the bill that will pass the excesses at the end of the year – which his family ensures will remain on the sidelines – Martínez had already bought a cylinder in advance and kept the money for the Christmas bonuses.
“Fortunately, I didn’t buy anything in December,” he told AFP. Thus, he managed to pay 3,500 pesos (175 USD) that the PCR test cost for the 55-year-old woman, who stays at home.
Mexico City, with nine million inhabitants, has been on high alert since December 18 last year, with a 90% occupancy of the hospital in the face of rapidly growing infections.
With almost 43,000 active cases and 26,152 deaths, non-essential activities are suspended. In the country, with 128 million inhabitants, there are 146,174 deaths and 1.7 million infections.
Despite the care, Martínez claims that the virus haunted his neighborhood, where two neighbors recently died. “Where we live, people are very reckless, stupid, they don’t wear masks. It’s okay!”
A few positions away from him, Ileana Ruiz is looking for oxygen for her uncle to withstand the transfer from a public hospital – where he does not feel well cared for – to a private clinic.
They will do it with a private car because “there are no ambulances”, says this medical student, aged 23, who has not been able to attend his four-day virtual classes because he is looking for drugs and now oxygen.
“We estimate that it will take an hour, which is necessary for the transfer,” said the young woman, who has to pay 200 pesos ($ 10) to fill the smallest tank.
Due to the outbreak of the pandemic, “oxygen demand has increased by 700% in the last month”Jesús Montaño, from the Federal Consumer Prosecutor’s Office, told AFP.
At the same time, fraud and speculation have increased on social networks, where “exorbitant prices” are charged.
Although the government has allowed free oxygen dispensers, “the big problem is the lack of tanks. There is no way to get it,” Montaño said.