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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Mexico’s fourth wave of covid-19 infections, which Public Health (SSA) Secretary Jorge Alcocer Varela on Saturday, Nov. 19, admitted is now on the nation’s doorsteps (although he said this in strict confidentiality on a live internet feed, adding that it should not be leaked to the press), could, over the course of the next four months, increase the number of deaths from the disease nationwide by at least 58 percent (231,642 more fatalities), according to a study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

As of Wednesday, Nov, 24, Mexico had registered a total of 292,850 covid deaths.

The study presented two separate scenarios, one in which Mexicans continue with the current universal use of face masks is universal, and the other in which they stop using a mask and mobility increases.

In a first scenario, in which the use of masks is widespread and social distancing measures are maintained, the increase in covid deaths would be by 554,296 cases, while in the second scenario, the  covid death count could reach more than 630,000 cases.

Faced with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation report, Andreu Comas, a virologist with the Mexican Genomic Surveillance Consortium, warned that Mexico could very well experience the worst scenario, because the use of face masks is on the decline and government authorities continue to relax prevention measures.