MANILA, Philippines – The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) and local government units (LGUs) to intensity the implementation of wearing face shields.
In a statement on Tuesday, DILG spokesman and Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said that the agency would mobilize all its force multipliers in the barangays (villages) to enforce the face shield protocol.
Citing the latest data of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, Malaya said that the use of face masks is at 91 percent, but the use of face shields is only at 32 percent.
“According to the medical experts, the combined population effectiveness of both the face masks and face shields is only at 26 percent instead of 80 percent if the use was more prevalent; therefore, we have to increase the use of face shields to get the maximum protection at this time of the surge,” he said.
Aside from wearing face shields, Malaya added that another challenge facing the DILG is to encourage the use of face masks at home, especially those living with senior citizens and the vulnerable.
“When we are at home, our guard goes down, so we discourage accepting visitors from outside the immediate family or household,” the DILG spokesman said.
Malaya went on to say that from August 20, 2020 to March 20, 2021, the PNP recorded 1,503,273 violations of minimum health protocols across the country, with 671,104 (or 44.6 percent) being violations of not wearing face masks and face shields and 430,773 (or 28.7 percent) wearing face masks but no face shields.
Metro Manila and four other neighboring provinces were put under a general community quarantine bubble from March 22 to April 4 due to increased COVID-19 cases.
Under the two-week period, travel to and from Metro Manila and the four adjacent provinces is not allowed—unless deemed as essential.
READ: FAQs: What’s a GCQ bubble?