INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
MANILA, Philippines — While waiting for the guidelines of President Rodrigo Duterte’s verbal directive to do away with the wearing of face shields outdoors, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has advised the public to still bring them when going out.
“It’s better if people would still bring with them face shields especially if they are not sure of the places they will go even in an outdoor setting,” Jonathan Malaya, spokesperson for the DILG, said in a radio interview on Friday.
He noted that a person going home might not need to wear a face shield while on the street, but he would need to wear one when going to a pharmacy, an enclosed space, to buy medicines.
According to Malaya, the subtechnical working group of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has already met with the Department of Health (DOH) to draft the guidelines on specific places where face shields would still be required.
The DOH would also need to amend their policies, particularly in defining minimum public health standards.
Local governments would also need to review and amend their ordinances, especially those with punitive clauses for nonwearing of face shields to adjust to the President’s directive.
On Wednesday night, Mr. Duterte announced that wearing face shields outdoors will no longer be required except in closed and crowded places.
He said he had approved the recommendation of the technical advisory group of the DOH and medical experts to no longer require face shields outdoors except in places classified in what he called “3Cs”—closed spaces, crowded areas and close-contact activities.
The IATF required the use of face shields in all open and enclosed areas in December last year.
These include indoor public spaces, schools, workplaces, commercial establishments (malls, public markets), public transport and terminals, and places of worship.
Face shields must also be worn at all times in public spaces wherein 1-meter physical distancing is not possible and there is a gathering of more than 10 individuals at the same venue at the same time.