The Hotel Villa Montecarlo is located at the western entrance of the municipal capital of Chapala. 

Although the conversion  of the hotel to isolation housing was always a long shot, the high incidence of new coronavirus cases in Jalisco resulted in a second look.  However, the town council rejected the idea on June 24 in a plenary session. Two days before that rejection, Villa Primavera had begun operations and to date has registered few admissions but in the next few days that could change.

The Voluntary Isolation Centers (CAV) are for patients of Covid-19 who do not require hospitalization  because they have mild or asymptomatic cases , but lack a suitable place to isolate themselves from their relatives,  necessary to cut the chain of contagion in the state.

To date, Villa Montecarlo, which depends directly on the University of Guadalajara (UDG), has not informed the municipality directly of its proposal; however, Municipal President, Moisés Alejandro Anaya Aguilar,  has made it clear that this type of use will not be permitted in the municipality and the town will do everything possible to ensure that this does not happen,  or if it does,  it will be without his authorization, a position supported by his Municipal Trustee and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA).

The city councilors consider that the incidence of Covid-19 in Chapala is not high.  They contrast the municipality with fewer than 30 cases to the municipality of Guadalajara with more than 6 thousand cases registered, excluding those from the municipalities of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Zone. Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan

Editor’s note: Since the Hotel Villa Montecarlo is located in the center of the town and not in an isolated place like the Hotel Villa Primavera, the town’s authorities did not like the idea that Chapala could host a Voluntary Isolation Center.