Abstract

MORENO JAIMES, Carlos. Managing the covid-19 pandemic in Jalisco: from policy differentiation to bureaucratic discretion. Carta econ. reg. [online]. 2022, vol.35, n.130, pp.135-161.  Epub Oct 01, 2024. ISSN 2683-2852.  https://doi.org/10.32870/cer.v1i130.7852.

This paper analyzes the health sector’s response to the covid-19 pandemic in Jalisco during 2020 from two perspectives: that of the state government and that of medical personnel. The first emphasizes how the Jalisco government aimed to deviate from the federal government in its crisis management, specifically in its epidemiological surveillance mechanism. The second, based on in-depth interviews with medical personnel, gives an account of the restrictions these actors faced, highlighting the scarcity of resources, protection measures for personnel, the characteristics of the work environment, and the effects on workers’ personal lives. It is argued that, in a context of weak institutionalization, unclear policy design, and a great scarcity of operational resources, bureaucratic discretion was the only way healthcare workers were able to face a crisis as complex as the covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords : policy implementation; street-level bureaucracies; health protection; Jalisco; covid-19.

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