The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has recommended making the wearing of face masks outdoors voluntary nationwide, the Department of Health (DOH) said.

“Ito pong IATF resolution kung saan nagrerekomenda po ang IATF sa ating Presidente to liberalize the use of mask outdoors. Ibig sabihin sa labas po, hindi indoors (This IATF resolution is recommending to our President to liberalize the use of masks outdoors. It is only for outdoors and not for indoors),” said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire during the Palace press briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Vergeire noted that this is not yet a policy as President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. still needs to issue an executive order for this.

“Hindi pa ito polisiya kasi kailangan mailagay natin sa ganitong klaseng (This is not yet a policy because we need to put it in this kind of) legal instrument before it becomes a policy. What we are doing right now is initially informing the public so that everybody is informed about the IATF resolution,” she said.

“The very reason why we are having this presscon and initially informing the public of this was because there was this verbal approval from the President when they talked to Secretary Benhur from DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government)," she added.

During their meeting, other IATF members have presented the experiences of other countries, said Vergeire.

“Maraming pag-aaral ang isinagawa. Actually meron din pong naipresent din ang iba’t-iba nating miyembro from the IATF about experiences from other countries (Several studies have been conducted. Actually, different members of the IATF also presented experiences of other countries),” she said.

“Pag tinignan po natin yung mga datos natin ngayon at kung ano yung naging desisyon ng IATF (When we look at our current data as well as the decision of the IATF), we want to emphasize the confidence of our officials sa ating bakuna, kung saan ang mga bakuna ay nakapagbigay sa atin ng stable at manageable ang ating mga kaso ng Covid-19 (in our vaccines, as the vaccines helped us in making our Covid-19 cases stable and manageable),” she added.

Wearing of mask still highly recommended

Despite this development, Vergeire reminded the public that the use of face masks is still recommended.

“I would like to emphasize na ang ating pagsusuot ng mask ay highly encourage pa rin (that the wearing of masks is still highly encouraged),” she said.

“Lalong-lalo na po sa ating mga nakakatanda or senior citizens and those vulnerable to the disease like those with immunocompromised conditions dahil sila po yung talagang tinatamaan ng malubhang sakit ng Covid-19 (Especially among the elderly or senior citizens and those vulnerable to the disease like those with immunocompromised conditions because they are the ones who are at a higher risk of getting severe Covid-19),” she added.

Indoor masking

The DOH official said that they are now studying if the mask wearing in indoor settings can also be made voluntary.

“Napagkasunduan po ng Interagency Task Force na umpisahan na po ang pag-aaral ng ating mga eksperto ukol dito sa pagsasagawa nitong pagli-lift ng mask sa indoor areas (The Interagency Task Force has agreed to start our experts’ study regarding the lifting of face mask wearing in indoor areas),” said Vergeire.

“Kailangan pong maintindihan ng mga ating mga kababayan (Our citizens need to understand), we need to do this in phases so that we can ensure that our population is protected from Covid-19,” she added.

Vergeire said that they will select areas that will participate in this study.

“Tayo po ngayon ay kumakalap ng ng iba’t-ibang ebidensya. Gumagawa na rin tayo ng concept paper kung saan yung study—paano natin gagawin ang pagpa-pilot (We are now gathering various pieces of evidence. We are also making a concept paper on how we can do the pilot implementation),” she said.

“When we say pilot, we are going to implement this kind of implementation sa piling lugar sa ating bansa para makita natin kung kakayanin na ng ating sistema o hindi (in select areas in our country so we can see if our system can handle it or not),” she added.