FILE PHOTO: People wearing face masks and face shields. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / Niño Jesus Orbeta
MANILA, Philippines — Face shields are no longer mandatory in Manila City except in medical facilities, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso announced Monday.
“Mananatiling mandatory pa rin ang paggamit ng face shield sa ating mga ospital. Effective po ito ngayong araw,” Moreno, a presidential aspirant for the 2022 national elections, said in a statement.
(It will remain mandatory in hospitals, effective today.)
Moreno issued Executive Order (EO) No. 42, “an order declaring the use of face shields as non-mandatory” in the nation’s capital city except in hospital settings and medical clinics, among other medical facilities.
Moreno noted that Metro Manila was already downgraded to COVID-19 Alert Level 2 since November 5.
Citing the national government’s guidelines on its new five-tier community quarantine system, the local chief executive’s statement explained that areas under Alert Level 2 have low and decreasing COVID-19 case transmission, low healthcare utilization rate, or low or decreasing case counts but total bed and intensive care utilization rates are increasing.
Last week, Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque disclosed the pandemic task force is mulling the removal of face shield use policy as COVID-19 cases continue to decline.
Moreno has earlier criticized the use of face shields, saying it is an additional financial burden for Filipinos yet it does not provide people full protection against COVID-19 citing scientific studies abroad.
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He has also stressed that the Philippines is the lone nation worldwide to require the use of face shields on top of face masks.
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