My neighbor T and I have just been talking about the fact that almost everything everywhere is closed following the order of the Secretary of Health, José Angel Córdova, to suspend all non-essential work in the productive sector of the economy. Victims of the flu aren't confined to the sick: wage-earners , both in the formal and informal economies, stand to lose significant earnings. T says it's going to be really hard on the people in the Colonia, and of course it is: here people live paycheck to paycheck if not day to day.
There is no obligation for bosses to pay, according to Federal Labor Law. Luis Manuel Guiada, legal advisor to the American Chamber of Commerce and Italo Morales, president of the Labor Commission of Canacintra, a business organization, appealed to "the sensitivities of employers" to pay wages. What else could they do?
Meanwhile, T is pretty scared. I imagine other people are, too. The media are altogether too dramatic about the situation. Most people don't have access to the internet where one can find all kinds of sensible material.