Life is a beach.
The health official who led Mexico’s COVID-19 response was hijacked on a mask-free seaside vacation and ignored his own advice to “stay at home” during the pandemic.
Dr. Hugo López-Gatell, deputy health minister, was caught in photos relaxing at a beach resort in southern Oaxaca, about 500 miles from his home in Mexico City, the Los Angles Times reported.
He could be seen in a photo outside at a waterfront bar with a woman – without wearing a mask.
In a second photo, he was captured speaking on a cell phone with his mask under his chin – while on a busy flight from Mexico City.
López-Gatell had flown to the beach destination on New Year’s Eve – taking a break from his nightly news conferences providing updates on the pandemic and often urging residents to “stay at home,” the LA Times reported.
Critics declined his trip as the country grapples with one of the highest death rates from coronavirus.
“He’s traveling at the worst moment of the pandemic,” political writer Denise Dresser wrote on Twitter, the LA Times reported.
“He’s far from where he should be: with health personnel, running the vaccination campaign, leading by example.”
López-Gatell defended his trip on Monday, saying he had “nothing to hide”.
“I went to visit very close relatives, very close friends, and we were in a private home at the end of the year,” he said, the Mexico Daily News reported.
He also acknowledged that he had visited the restaurant where he was photographed without a mask, but pointed out that he did not defy any rules there because the cases are lower than in other regions.
He further asserted that some of the criticism of his trip was politically motivated.
“In the electoral context, it is clear that different political forces want to take advantage, create demons and create enemies to position themselves,” he said.