The Department of Health (DOH) urged all local government units (LGUs) to follow the policy on the wearing of face masks, saying that such a rule plays a vital role in the country’s response against Covid-19.
“This should be a one-nation approach. This is the whole Philippines implementing safeguards for our population,” said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire in a press briefing on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
“Let us do this in a one nation approach, na hindi tayo mag kanya-kanya (and not divided). Let us try to follow our protocols right now,” she added.
Vergeire made the statement after it was reported that Cebu City is planning to issue an executive order making wearing of face masks voluntary within the city except in health facilities.
“Tandaan niyo po ang pagsusuot ng mask nakakabawas ng halos 70 to 80 percent ng tyansa na kayo ay magkasakit. Ang pagsusuot ng mask ay konting sakripisyo lang para maproteksyunan natin ang sarili natin. And pag naproteksyunan natin ang sarili natin, naproproteksyunan natin ang ating mga kapamilya (Remember that wearing a mask reduces the chance of you getting sick by about 70 to 80 percent. Wearing a mask is just a small sacrifice to protect ourselves. And when we protect ourselves, we also protect our families),” she said.
Vergeire said that the Cebu City officials did not consult the DOH with regards to their plan of easing the face mask rule in their area.
“We were never consulted on this matter, regarding this removal of face mask in outdoors and this executive order that they are going to issue,” she said.
She noted that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has the jurisdiction to oversee that all LGUs should follow the different policies being implemented by the national government.
“Wala pong exemption sa mga protocols at polisiya na ating pinapatupad (There is no exemption from the protocols and policies that we are implementing),” said Vergeire.
Vergeire said “a city within a country cannot act on its own, cannot be an island across all islands,” adding that the country’s borders are “porous.”
“We know that people all over the country travel to and fro these different areas of the country. And we know that Covid-19 crosses borders. If we are preventing the infections in most of the areas in the country and one area will not have that kind of safeguard, and therefore, the possibility or the risk of infections would be higher in this area because the safeguards is not there,” she said.
“And therefore, people who are going there or people from that place going out might have that higher risk of infecting other people also from the other areas,” she added.
Other nations’ situation
The DOH understands the sentiments of other people that some countries were now able to lift their face mask mandate, said Vergeire. However, it is difficult to compare the Philippines with other nations, she said.
“Let us say Singapore. Singapore has a very robust healthcare system. Ang access ng tao sa kanilang mga ospital at facilities is very high compared to the Philippines. You remember the time that we had the Delta situation here in the country where almost our healthcare system was overwhelmed. And that is what we are trying to prevent right now,” she said.
Vergeire said that the Philippines first needs to meet certain criteria before further easing the restrictions.
“Ngayon sa ating mga datos, yung ating mga bakunahan hindi pa rin tumataas ang booster coverage, hindi natin maitaas-taas yung wall of immunity natin. Pangalawa, yun pong ating mga kaso, although it is plateauing, but we are seeing na meron po tayong ilang bahagi ng bansa na tumataas ang severe and critical infections (Based on our current data, the booster vaccination coverage is not that high yet, we cannot raise our wall of immunity. Second, our cases, although it is plateauing, but we are seeing that some parts of the country have been recording an increase in severe and critical infections),” she explained.
“Dadating tayo sa punto (We will get to the point), we are not closing our doors, we will do that in time when we already have safeguards in our population. When we talk about safeguards, we talk about a high vaccination rate and also we talk about na stable na yung cases—wala nang masyadong namamatay, walang masyadong naaadmit na severe and critical (stable number of cases—low number of deaths and low admission of severe and critical infections),” she added.