An infectious disease expert said Covid-19 cases in the country may increase once again as the government is set to make wearing of face masks voluntary in indoor spaces.
“Talagang may agam-agam pa din tayo diyan especially for now na nandito ang XBB and XBC (We really still have doubts about that, especially now with the presence of XBB and XBC ),” said Dr. Rontgene Solante during a public briefing on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
“When you make mask optional indoors, then meron talagang risk iyan (there is really a risk)... It might cause increase in cases but I hope it will not overwhelm our healthcare utilization,” he added.
Solante explained that the possibility of transmitting the Covid-19 virus is high in indoor spaces, especially if the area is crowded.
However, there is also an advantage in implementing such a policy as this can help people to assess their own risk, said Solante.
“I think, the overall advantage is that we want empower the people to decide on their own, what is best for them,” he said.
“ will put more responsibility on the people para naman ma-determine nila kung anong risk nila (for them to determine their risk), if they will be indoor and they will be putting on or off their mask,” he added.
An official of the Department of Health (DOH) also said that cases are expected to increase once this new policy on face mask-wearing will be implemented.
However, what is important is to maintain the country's healthcare utilization rate at low risk, said DOH Epidemiology Bureau Director Dr. Alethea De Guzman.
“The past few months have shown us that even if we had increase in cases and there were slight increases in our admissions, our health systems capacity was able to actually accommodate these increases in admissions,” said De Guzman in a separate briefing.
While the government is relaxing some protocols related to Covid-19, it is important to increase the country’s vaccination coverage, said De Guzman.
“We know that it will be the vaccines that will help mitigate and reduce whatever negative impact with the removal of these layers of protection will have, not just on our cases, but especially on our admissions, in our healthcare utilization,” she added.