Step outside into Mexico’s capital (home to more than 20 million people) and you’d be forgiven for not realizing we’re still in the midst of a global pandemic that’s killed more than half a million people.

As of this week, several Mexican states have entered the initial phase of reopening and Mexicans are taking full advantage of the newly found sense of ‘freedom’ – visiting restaurants, cafés and shops in droves. However, experts warn that Mexico will likely follow the dangerous path of the United States – which opened prematurely and is now having to shut down businesses once again as cases reach record levels.

Here’s an inside look into the daily reality of Chilangos (as residents of Mexico City are called) and what the future holds for the country amid Coronavirus.

Mexico City – along with 17 other states – have entered the first phase of a gradual reopening.

Mexico City began allowing more businesses to reopen Monday, after almost three months of various types of lockdowns. https://t.co/tbuCOsirfm

— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) June 30, 2020

Despite being home to the largest number of active cases across Mexico, the capital joined 17 other states in a phased reopening this week. Mexico City lowered its contagion risk from a level red (the most extreme) to level orange, which permits some businesses to reopen.

However, Mexico City – on the day of the reopening – saw a record 5,432 new cases and 638 confirmed deaths. Mayor Sheinbaum said that the switch to orange was possible because hospital occupancy levels are at 59% and trending downwards. But to many, the government is prioritizing the economy over public safety and health. Several government officials insisted that it was safe to proceed to the reduced warning level but health experts disagreed.

The mayor stressed that if hospital occupancy levels go above 65% again, red light restrictions will be reinstated. She urged residents to continue to take precautions to reduce the risk of infection. People should continue to stay at home as much as possible and the use of face masks in public places remains mandatory.

Along with Mexico City, 17 other states moved into the orange phase of reopening – including tourist hotspots of Jalisco, Veracruz, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan.

The federal government instituted a traffic light system to simplify the risk management of Covid-19

Shortly after the Coronavirus outbreak began, the federal government instituted a color-coded risk management system to simplify its messaging. With red being the highest risk level and green being the lowest, every state until June 15th was still in the red level.

As of July 1, 18 states are now in the orange level. This means that restaurants, cafés, and shops can begin to reopen with reduced capacity. Hotels and markets will also be allowed to resume service, meaning that tourism will likely begin to pick up again very soon.

President AMLO has been eager to get the economy reopened after it was reported that at least one million formal jobs have been lost and the country’s economy is expected to shrink by 8.8% this year.

On the first day of reopening, shops in Mexico City’s historic center were jammed full of shoppers.

The city’s historical center is a hub of economic activity. You can literally find pretty much anything you could ever want in these cobblestones streets. The district is home to more than 27,000 businesses and as of this week they’re now permitted to open once again. And resident wasted no time in hitting the shops.

Long lines formed outside shops with few people wearing masks and most stores not truly enforcing social distancing requirements. Some offered antibacterial gel and took people’s temperatures before allowing them to enter.

Officially, shops and businesses with an odd street number are permitted to open three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, whereas even-numbered shops can open Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

In order to prevent crowds from accumulating and promote social distancing, 31 streets were converted into pedestrian-only zones.

Restaurants, cafés, and shopping centers are all open for business – with some protective measurements in place.

Even before the official change to semáforo naranja, several restaurants and cafés were already offering dine-in service. But now restaurants are officially allowed to operate at limited capacity, while staff are required to wear masks and shields, and restaurants are’s allowed to play music or issue reusable menus.

Street markets, known as tianguis, will also be allowed to restart which will help many of the city’s informal workers. And the following week, department stores and shopping malls will also be allowed to reopen at 30% capacity and with limited hours.

Mexico is hardly finished with the Coronavirus threat – in fact, cases have been reaching record levels.

Although not yet at the levels seen in the U.S. or Brazil, Mexico has been struggling with its response to the Coronavirus pandemic. As of July 1, the country has had more than 225,000 confirmed cases and almost 28,000 deaths, with Mexico City being the epicenter of the nation’s outbreak.

And the worst doesn’t appear to be over. In a Covid-19 situation report published Monday, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security noted that Mexico had reported a decreasing daily incidence for three consecutive days.

“However, Mexico does not yet appear to have reached its peak,” the report said. “Based on recent trends, we expect Mexico to report increasing daily incidence over the coming days. Mexico is currently No. 6 globally in terms of daily incidence,” it added.

Mexico woke up today to the sounds of sirens which gave way to intense shaking from the southern state of Chiapas to the capital, Mexico City. Although the country is no stranger to strong earthquakes, the trauma of 2017’s massive quake is still raw and sent many residents into a state of panic as the alarms sounded.

Here in Mexico City, the shaking was intense despite being some 300 miles from the epicenter of the 7.4 quake – which was located in Oaxaca. At least one death has been attributed to the quake, millions are without power, and millions more are wondering when the next one will hit.

Note: this is a developing story and we will update it as more information becomes available.

A preliminary 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the southern coast of Mexico and was felt throughout the region.

Mexico has been hit by a large earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4, centered along the coastline of southern Oaxaca state. Although the epicenter was some 300 miles from the capital of Mexico City, strong shaking was felt in the nation’s capital – as well as as far away as Veracruz, Guatemala and El Salvador.

The quake has knocked out power to millions, damaged several buildings, and triggered tsunami warnings up and down the Mexican coastline.

A report from Reuters said that at least one person was killed in Oaxaca as a result of the quake.

In Mexico City, residents fled their homes for the relative safety of the streets amid violent shaking.

Living in Mexico City, I can confirm that the shaking was super strong here in the capital – especially in Colonia Roma. Many had to scramble to their knees to avoid falling over or to hold onto a car or building to steady themselves amid the strong shaking.

More than anything, it was also a very loud earthquake. The sound of the earth underneath a massive city shaking violently is extremely loud and almost as terrifying as the actual shaking.

For almost an hour after the initial shaking, many residents were still outside in the streets, too afraid to go back inside their homes. And with good reason – as of early afternoon there have already been more than 150 aftershocks.

Standing outside among my neighbors, one thing was painfully obvious: the trauma of the 2017 earthquake is still fresh on many people’s minds. Many were scared to tears.

Videos of the shaking quickly made their way onto social media.

🎥 Vecinos de la colonia Condesa en la CDMX grabaron el #sismo desde su terraza. 🥴 pic.twitter.com/SGazYhsWXv

— SUUMA Voluntarios 🚑 (@SUUMA_CDMX) June 23, 2020

From buildings swaying into each other, the ground moving beneath people’s feet, and the inside of people’s homes being violently tossed from side to side, videos of the quake have quickly gone viral.

One such video showed a hospital in Mexico City suffering extensive damage as it was violently shaken from side to side.

One thing is for sure: the city’s earthquake warning system worked perfectly.

Most of Mexico City is equipped with an early earthquake warning system. And it can be credited for saving lives. In my neighborhood, La Roma, we had a good 30-45 second warning before the shaking actually began. In fact, the alarm gave us so much warning that many of us thought it was just a test – because in the past the shaking typically starts just mere seconds after the alarm.

Since the 2017 earthquake, which killed hundreds, Mexico has been hard at work at fine tuning the alarm system. They have invested some 450 million pesos ($20 million USD) into additional sensors and sirens strategically placed around populated areas to better alert residents – and it seems to have paid off.

Mexico is no stranger to strong quakes – having been hit by even larger ones in 2017 and 1985.

Mexico is one of the world’s most seismically active regions and has a long history of devastating earthquakes. The country is located on top of three large tectonic plates and their movement causes regular quakes and occasional volcanic eruptions.

In 2017, two powerful earthquakes hit the country in two weeks, toppling buildings, cracking highways and killing hundreds of people. One had a magnitude of 7.1 and the other a magnitude of 8.1.

Meanwhile, the nation’s capital – Mexico City, is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes because it was built on a former lakebed. Most of the city’s 20 million residents live above very soft and wet ground which amplifies shaking and is prone to liquefaction, in which dirt transforms into a dense liquid when sufficiently churned. This is why even weaker earthquakes are often felt more strongly in Mexico City than other parts of the country.

Despite the large earthquake, Mexicans are taking it all in stride and a string of memes have already hit the Internet mocking the ridiculousness of 2020.

In a matter of minutes, memes depicting just how crazy 2020 is – from COVID to earthquakes – had already taken over Mexican Twitter.

And if this one isn’t all too real:

Given the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, this one is super relatable. As I ran out of my apartment to the street, I had to run back inside to grab that mask. #SafetyFirst