With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifying the Philippines under the lowest travel-risk classification, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said that the country should now lift the state of a public health emergency.
Concepcion renewed his call after the CDC said that the Philippines is now in a Level 1 travel risk classification, considered the lowest risk classification reserved for countries with 49 or fewer new cases per 100,000 residents over the last 28 days.
In a statement, Concepcion said lifting the state of a public health emergency would promote confidence among the population and lift the alert levels.
"It would be just the right time as all over the world, economies are starting to resume normal activity," he said.
"We should focus on job creation, opening up all areas, resuming in-person classes, and encouraging people to go back to work," he added.
Australia, Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy – which are on CDC's Level 3, or high-risk category – are not under a state of a public health emergency.
The Go Negosyo founder believes that Filipinos can already make informed decisions on how to keep themselves safe from Covid and prevent infecting others, citing an OCTA Research study that found that most Filipinos will continue to wear face masks even after Covid has been brought under control.
"I think wearing face masks outdoors should now be optional, but it should remain mandatory in indoor situations, especially in public transport," Concepcion said.
OCTA Research fellow Fr. Nicanor Austriaco agreed with Concepcion, saying that an increasing number of studies are showing that wearing an N-95 mask after being vaccinated and boosted will protect an individual from getting Covid-19 even if everyone else is not wearing a mask.
"This should reassure the Filipino people that they can protect themselves even as our society begins to relax the outdoor and even indoor mask-wearing requirement as other countries have," Austriaco said.
Other policy changes have also signaled that the country is slowly easing out of restrictions. Incoming tourists no longer need a Covid-19 test as long as they have at least one booster vaccination.
"Because this will not be our final pandemic, we should work on refining our public health warning system," Concepcion said.
He suggested an alert level system based on healthcare and ICU bed utilization rates rather than infection rates. He had earlier proposed a public health warning system similar to typhoon alert warning systems.
Concepcion said vaccinations and boosters should continue, and it would even be better to expand second boosters to include those 50 years or older. Government can also recalibrate future vaccine purchases based on the takeup of Covid-19 vaccines during the mass vaccinations.