1 Health Policy Issue Brief: COVID-19 in Mexico, an imperative to test, trace, and isolate. Daniel Bernal-Serrano 1,2, *, Héctor Carrasco 3 , Lindsay Palazuelos 4 , Joel M. Mubiligi 5,6 , Catherine Oswald 4 1. Partners In Health/Compañeros en Salud México. Mexico City, Mexico. 2. Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Campus Ciudad de México. Mexico City, Mexico. 3. Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Campus Monterrey. Monterrey, Mexico. 4. Partners In Health, Boston. United States of America. 5. Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima. Rwikinwavu, Rwanda. 6. University of Global Health Equity. Kigali, Rwanda. *Corresponding author: dbernal@pih.org, danielbernalserrano@gmail.com Authors ORCID information Daniel Bernal-Serrano: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0608-9977 Hector Carrasco: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5657-5821 Lindsay Palazuelos: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0670-5648 Catherine Oswald: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3193-731X Joel M. Mubiligi: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6001-192X Keywords: Policy Brief, test, tracing, isolation, quarantine, COVID-19, Mexico Abstract (Executive Summary) The current strategy for COVID-19 mitigation in Mexico has been surpassed, therefore, it is necessary to repurpose resources towards a suppression approach. If the current trend continues, around 96 thousand deaths by early November, and a 53% annualized rate of decrease in the GDP are expected. Shifting the strategy towards epidemiological suppression, which implicates testing and isolation of symptomatic cases, tracing, and quarantine of their contacts, as well as targeted social support, is a proven approach to avoid this debacle. We demonstrate that implementing testing and contact tracing for all acute respiratory infections is feasible with Mexico’s current resources. A strategy where symptomatic patients are tested and isolated and contacts are quarantined, can suppress community spread, save lives, reduce suffering, decrease the burden on hospitals, and restart the economy earlier and in a safer way. The more we wait to implement comprehensive testing and tracing to suppress the epidemic, the more people will become infected, and the impact of this measures will decrease.