The Health Squad: Mexico turns to cartoon characters to promote COVID-19 health measures

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Yesterday at the daily briefing to report the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Mexico’s Health Ministry presented the Health Squad , a group of four female characters that are allied with Susana Distancia, a superheroine that encourages people to practice physical distancing.

Hence, during the daily COVID-19 briefing, Ricardo Cortés presented these four new cartoons. Each of them represents a color of Mexico’s four-color coding system to resume activities during the pandemic: Red, orange, yellow, and green. Their names are Refugio, Prudencia, Esperanza, and Aurora.

Ricardo Cortés mentioned the specific characteristics of each of them. Refugio is an elderly person; Prudencia is in a wheelchair; Esperanza is a muxhe gunna, and Aurora is queer.

Refugio represents the red color that means “Stay Home” and she is an elderly person.

The Health Squad: Mexico turns to cartoon characters to promote COVID-19 health measures

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Prudence represents the orange color and her motto es “Avoid leaving home.” She is a person with disabilities.

The Health Squad: Mexico turns to cartoon characters to promote COVID-19 health measures

Esperanza represented the yellow color and promotes health measures when going out. She is a muxhe gunna, a classification made by the members of that community to refer to muxes who wear female clothes in their daily life and identify as women.

The Health Squad: Mexico turns to cartoon characters to promote COVID-19 health measures

They are different from muxes guiu who only wear male clothes and identify as men.

For her part, Aurora represents the green color. She is queer and her superpower is the new normal.

The Health Squad: Mexico turns to cartoon characters to promote COVID-19 health measures

Ricardo Cortés, the general director of Health Promotion, mentioned that since Mexico began resuming its non-essential activities, there have been jokes saying Susana Distancia has taken off her suit to go out to the street, so now, with the help of the Health Squad, all these characters will inform people about the risk level in each Mexican state and the measures they must follow in order to stay protected from the new disease.

“Susana Distancia is still here and must always remain with us, along with handwashing and respiratory etiquette, and if you’re sick, stay home; these heroines will be in charge of reporting the seriousness [of the pandemic] and will regulate the rules we must follow in each state to keep safe from the terrible COVID-19.”

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He added that Refugio, who represents the red color and whose motto is “Stay home,” has the superpower of maximum care. “She is an elderly person that takes care of us, who is wise to give us shelter; that’s why we must stay home to be protected and prevent the increase of infections.”

Prudencia wears an orange suit that represents a high-risk level and her motto is “Avoid leaving home.” Her superpower consists of making adjustments and getting ready for a change in the four-color coding system. “When we are in orange, we have to get ready to gradually return to the streets; she is also a person with disabilities.”

He stressed that Esperanza is a muxhe gunna and represents a médium risk level, hence, her suit is yellow. Her motto is “ Health measures when going out,” to think that, when we are able to go out to the street with more frequency, we must follow important health measures. Her superpower consists of keep taking care of us.

Finally, Aurora, who is a queer woman, represents the lowest risk but her Green suit does not mean we should stop being protecting ourselves from the new virus. “We must not think SARS-CoV-2 will disappear; that is not possible,” said Cortés Alcalá. Aurora’s motto is “Together we can prevent a surge” and her superpower is the new normal.

After thanking Ernesto Tejeda and Dante Bañuelos for their proposal on risk communication, the officer underscored the importance of the Health Squad; “we must stay home when we are in red; follow Refugio’s suggestion; make adjustments like Prudencia; practice physical distancing [like Susana Distancia], but always have hope [like Esperanza] so that together as a society, we can reach Aurora.”