The Department of Health (DOH) is set to recommend to the government’s pandemic task force the “decoupling” of restrictions from the Covid-19 Alert Level System.
DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said they will bring this matter up in the next Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) meeting.
“ Alert Level system, we will be recommending to the IATF...to decouple already the restrictions from the Alert Level signals that we have,” said Vergeire during a press briefing on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
“So we'd like to decouple these restrictions from this Alert Level System kung saan, ang Alert Level system ay gagamitin nalang ng ating bansa parang PAGASA storm signals nalang siya: na sasabihin nalang sa'yo, ‘oh signal 4 tayo ngayon’–alam pamilya at komunidad kung ano ang gagawin, hindi kailangan na nakatali pa ang restrictions sa (wherein the Alert Level system will be used just like the PAGASA storm signals in order to inform you like ‘oh we're on signal 4 now'- and so that families and communities know what to do. There is no need for restrictions to be tied to the) Alert Level system,” she added.
To recall, this move was originally proposed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. last July.
In July, Marcos gave comments about the implementation of Alert Level System. He commented that the alert level metrics were “appropriate at that time it was created.” However, since the “situation is evolving and has evolved already, the DOH should look into it “on ways forward,”said Vergeire during a press briefing last July 20.
Amid this development, Vergeire said that “as the virus is here, as long as it is circulating in our country, the risk of superspreader events would always be there.”
This is why each individual should learn how to assess their risk, she said.
“Kailangan tandaan, nasa atin na ang decision–sa bawat indibidwal, komunidad, workplace, eskwelahan (We have to remember that the decision is now up to us- for each individual, community, workplace, school),” she said.
“We choose to wear our mask pag high-risk ang setting (if we are in a high risk setting)...We choose to be vaccinated because we would like to be protected and families and neighbors,” she added.