Press Release
#09/2021
For immediate release Wednesday, June 16th, 2021
Presentation of the results of the "Survey on Prevalence of Covid-19 in Baja California"
Today, the results of the "Survey on Prevalence of Covid-19 in Baja California”, a binational initiative that had the support of the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego, were presented.
The survey, implemented with the sponsorship of the California Health Care Foundation and the administration of the International Community Foundation, was conducted in the cities of Mexicali, Ensenada and Tijuana, between February 1 and 19, 2021, with the participation of 155 medical students and interns from the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), under the coordination and supervision of the Ministry of Health of Baja California. The exercise had the technical support of the University of California San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef) and UABC.
The main objective of the survey was to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 in the population of Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada. For this, 1,126 people were surveyed in the three cities, and two types of laboratory tests were used to establish prevalence: RT-PCR from nasal swabs to identify positive cases of COVID-19 at the time of the survey and IgC antibody tests on blood to identify who had had a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The laboratory tests and health questionnaire, designed by a group of experts from El Colef and UC San Diego- were conducted on a representative sample of the population of three cities in Baja California, comprised of 50.2% men and 49.9% women (once the weighting factors were applied).
The four main results of the survey are presented below:
- According to the results of the antibody tests, the prevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, which indicates the percentage of people who were already infected by the virus at some point in the past, was similar in Baja California to that of the rest of Mexico: 21% in Baja California compared to 25% at the national level, as determined by the Health and Nutrition National Survey-COVID completed at the end of
- Based on the obtained evidence, the percentage of people residing in Baja California cities who crossed the border in the 6 months prior to the survey was low. Furthermore, the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was not different among those who did or did not cross the
- A higher percentage of positive cases was registered in Ensenada than in the rest of the surveyed cities, likely due to the dynamics of the pandemic, in which the peaks of cases occurred first in Mexicali and Tijuana and then later in the port of Ensenada, where the peak appears to appears to have coincided with the survey period.
- Knowledge about COVID-19 in the population was limited. Prevention messages on the use of masks and hand washing seem to have had an impact on the population. In contrast, the messages regarding the importance of staying at home have either not been accepted, or the population has not had the necessary resources to do
This project marks an important point in the border binational cooperation and collaboration of different sectors of government, academia and non-governmental organizations and emphasizes the central importance of the collection of objective information on the prevalence of COVID-19 in Baja California. It is expected that this type of study will facilitate the design of more appropriate public policies for the prevention, management and eventual eradication of COVID-19.
The binational team of researchers produced an executive report of the study results that is attached and can be consulted here.
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