• GRANT: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ) will provide Mexico a US $3 million grant that the government intents to use for producing coronavirus antibody tests and conducting coronavirus research at the US-Mexico border.
• STUDIES: “This money will be used to strengthen Mexico response to the virus, specifically by funding antibody studies”, Mexico’s coronavirus czar Hugo López-Gatell said. The money will be administered by the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC).
• FRACTION: The CDC grant represents just a fraction of total US assistance to Mexico. According to the US Congressional Research Service (CRS), US aid to Mexico during the 2020 fiscal year amounted to US $158 million, mostly devoted to counter narcotics activities.
• PANDEMIC: “The funds will be used to study the prevalence of the virus in Mexico, increase epidemiological surveillance, improve risk communication and study mobility in border populations”, Chris Landau, the US Ambassador to Mexico, said on Twitter.
