Juárez mayor Armando Cabada now hospitalized after being infected with virus for 2nd time

UPDATE, Oct. 21: Juárez Mayor Armando Cabada was hospitalized Wednesday for treatment of Covid-19 following his diagnosis earlier this week of having contracted the virus for a second time.

In a social media post, the mayor said his doctor found inflammation of his lungs, which led to the decision to hospitalize him for observation.

Cabada is among 660 patients currently hospitalized due to Covid-19 in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, according to health officials on Wednesday.

ORIGINAL REPORT, Oct. 19: CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Mayor Armando Cabada has been infected for a second time with a confirmed case of Covid-19 as the city of Juárez approaches 1,000 virus deaths.

The mayor made the announcement in a social media post (see it at the bottom of this article) where he indicated that his wife Alejandra and daughter Regina also tested positive for the virus.

"All three of us have symptoms of a strong cold," Cabada wrote. "I clarify this, because unfortunately we have very loved and close people, who are currently hospitalized."

The mayor suffered his first bout with the novel coronavirus back in May, when he proclaimed at the time: "No one is exempt from contagion." With that case, Cabada was asymptomatic, not showing any signs of infection, and quickly recovered.

In acknowledging his family's latest bout with Covid, Cabada said their diagnosis comes as "the rates of contagion of coronavirus in our city are really disturbing."

To date, there have been 9,732 confirmed virus cases in Juárez, a number that experts say is major under-count because Mexico fails to conduct any widespread testing. The number of deaths due to the virus stands at 987.