MANILA, Philippines — The requirement for wearing face shields should be “risk-based,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Friday.
“It has to be risk based in case it is made voluntary during alert level 2. Risk based means it can be made mandatory anytime alert levels 3-5 are imposed under the 3Cs of face shielding such as in closed spaces, crowded areas, and in close contact settings,” Duque told INQUIRER.net in a text message.
“Definitely, [in] outdoor [places] as in open spaces, [there should be] no need for it,” he added.
Talks on whether face shields are really needed surfaced again after Interior Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said that Interior Secretary Eduardo Año will propose to lift the policy on wearing face shields except in hospitals.
Wearing a face shield is currently mandated in closed spaces, crowded areas, and close-contact settings.
In a media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the proposal on face shields was discussed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) on Thursday.
She said the Department of Health (DOH) told the IATF that it still needs to study the proposal.
“The DOH has manifested na kailangan pa naming pag-aralan nang maigi, dahil ang mga (that we still need to study it well because our) health experts, the Living CPG (Clinical Practice Guidelines) team is doing the reevaluation of the face shield requirement,” said Vergeire.
“Hintayin nating lumabas ‘yan. Mayroon kaming pagpupulong sa Lunes para makapagbigay na tayo ng appropriate recommendation sa IATF,” she added.
(Let us await their reevaluation. We have a meeting on Monday so we can provide an appropriate recommendation to the IATF.)