Juarez Fair runs through Oct. 10 with Covid precautions, but also risk

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- An El Paso infectious disease expert says the Juarez fair could be a risk to El Paso if proper Covid safety measures are not followed. The fair began Thursday at the Plaza de la X and will continue through Oct. 10th.

The fair was supposed to happen a month ago, but it was postponed after people criticized the Juarez government for holding mass event when virus cases were starting to rise, the city was in the yellow Covid level, vaccination rates were lower, and the Delta variant was a threat.

But now a month later, infections have slowed down, the city of Juarez is now at the green risk level - which is the lowest- and is says most people 18 and older are vaccinated.

Fair organizers say people will be required to wear face masks and there will be social distancing measures.

Some commercial spaces have also been eliminated to leave more room for people to walk and the fair will operate at 50 percent capacity. That means 50,000 people will be allowed to be there at the same time.

The chief of infectious diseases at Texas Tech University Health Science Center in El Paso told ABC-7 that the fair could pose a risk for the spread of Covid "if the proper measures are not taken and the reported precautions are not kept to that standards. If the fair goes and there's no checks and there is no particular ways to control the flow of people who attend, I think that you can potentially have an issue."

Dr. Anthony Meza had a message for people who decide to go to the Juarez fair.

"Personal decision has become, I think, the most important aspect of our pandemic scenario. Which is you as an individual have that responsibility to know what is your risk and what are the benefits of getting vaccinated," he explained.