In the fall of 2020, Massachusetts’ Suffolk County—where NOVA producer Arlo Pérez Esquivel lives—reported tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases among its population of 800,000 people.

Pérez Esquivel’s hometown of Uruapan, Mexico and the surrounding region, collectively home to about 700,000 people, reported only a fraction of the cases seen in Suffolk County. To him, the answer seemed simple: Leave Boston, travel to Uruapan, and avoid the pandemic.

Shortly after Pérez Esquivel’s arrival to Mexico, however, his neighbors and loved ones began to fall ill from the coronavirus. He began wondering whether cases and COVID-related deaths across Mexico were being underreported by the country’s government. With so many people sick around him and so few cases reported, the numbers weren’t adding up. Pérez Esquivel wanted to find out why.

Fear and shame have contributed to the low numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths reported in Mexico, Pérez Esquivel found. Many Mexican residents have been avoiding medical centers, therefore bypassing testing—a key part of diagnosis and case reporting. Having not sought medical care, some Mexicans that become severely ill from COVID-19 die at home. To avoid cremating their loved ones (as Mexican law requires for those who die of COVID-19) in favor of a more traditional burial, their relatives may claim they died of another cause.

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

Digital Producer: Arlo Pérez Esquivel Production Assistance: Hannah Gotwals, Robin Kazmier, Christina Monnen, Amanda Willis

Music: APM

Archival: Shutterstock Storyblocks

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