The Pasig City government on Tuesday issued guidelines on the proper use of face shield as it is now required to be worn in workplaces, public transportations, and commercial establishments.
The local government, citing the Department of Health (DOH), urged residents to wear face shields on top of their face masks as an added protection against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Residents were told not to touch the front portion of the face shield and only hold on to straps or the bands whenever it is worn or removed.
The Departments of Transportation (DOTr), Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Trade and Industry (DTI) have issued memorandums requiring all passengers of public transports and office workers to wear face shields on top of their face masks.
According to authorities, the wearing of face shields aims to give people extra protection from the disease which has already infected 197,164 people in the country and claimed the lives of 3,038 as of the Aug. 25 data from the DOH.
The Pasig City government has also reminded the public to properly clean their face shields using a clean cloth soaked in water with soap for the inner side of the face shield, while a cloth with disinfectant or alcohol should be used when cleaning the outer side.
Moreover, face shields should cover the entire portion of the face, and it must be stored in a clean place.
As of this writing, the local government has yet to release its latest update on COVID-19 cases in the city for Aug. 25.
Pasig City has 3,470 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Aug. 24. Of the total number, 1,814 are still considered as active cases, 167 have died, while 1,489 have recovered from the disease.
Mayor Vico Sotto recently announced that Pasig’s molecular laboratory capable of conducting COVID-19 tests is nearing full operation.
The mayor said the laboratory’s staff and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines procured by the local government are now ready.
“Unfortunately, there have been delays because our schedule for the DOH (Department of Health)-required training at RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine) has been postponed,” Sotto said on Facebook.
The laboratory, located at Pasig City Children’s Hospital, the city’s referral center for COVID-19 patients, is capable of conducting PCR testing, which is considered as the “gold standard” for COVID-19 testing.
The facility is also equipped to conduct enhanced electro-chemiluminescence immunoassays (ECLIA) testing, a type of antibody test that uses blood samples to determine if a patient developed antibodies against the virus.