Mobility of children outdoors up for IATF discussion on Thursday — Vergeire
MANILA, Philippines — The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases will discuss on Thursday the movement of children outdoors amid the threat of COVID-19, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
Vergeire on Monday shared that the Department of Health (DOH) has talked to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and local chief executives in the National Capital Region about the mobility of minors since those under 12 years old are not yet eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
READ: Vaccination of minors 12-17 yrs old starts Nov. 3, says Galvez
“Napag-usapan na ho namin ito with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the local governments of Metro Manila. And ang pinupunto nga po natin dahil sa Alert Level 2, dahil sa mga basehan natin na napag-aralan ng eksperto, maaari naman pong lumabas ang mga bata,” she said on TeleRadyo’s Sakto.
READ: Children now allowed out under Alert Level 2 in Metro Manila
(We talked about this with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the local governments of Metro Manila. Our point is, under Alert Level 2, based on experts’ studies, children are allowed to go outside.)
“Pero kailangan we are focused on the objective kaya natin pinapalabas ang mga bata — to exercise, to get sunlight, and doing their acts with other children but not in crowded areas,” she noted.
(Although, we should be focused on the objective why children should go outside — exercise, to get sunlight, and doing their acts with other children but not in crowded areas.)
She said that the matter will be tackled in the next IATF meeting on Thursday.
“So, ito po ay pag-uusapan ulit sa IATF this Thursday at titignan po natin what the recommendations will be,” she added.
(So, this will be discussed again by the IATF this Thursday and we will see what the recommendations will be.)
Meanwhile, Vergeire said that they exerted efforts to find the two-year-old child who tested positive on a COVID-19 rapid antigen test days after going to a mall.
READ: Cause of toddler’s COVID-19 infection ‘uncertain, multifactorial’ — DOH
The DOH has not found the kid yet as the doctor who shared the incident took down the post on Facebook.
“Actually, we tried tracking down hanggang sa ngayon, hindi na ho namin makita dahil binaba po o tinanggal ‘yung post sa Facebook nung doktor na nag-post nito. So, hindi pa ho namin sila nate-trace hanggang sa ngayon,” Vergeire explained.
(Actually, we tried tracking down until now, but we cannot see it anymore because the doctor’s post on Facebook was taken down. So, we have not traced them until now.)
The health official noted that they have not monitored other kids having the same incident and reiterated that trends show kids are at low risk of being infected, from being hospitalized, and from being dead due to the coronavirus.
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