SWS: 91% of Filipinos approve optional face mask use

FILE PHOTO: A pedestrian tinkers with her mobile device in front of a mural of people wearing face mask in Quezon City. Despite the entry of new variants, hospital admissions have remained low. INQUIRER / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly all Filipinos concurred with the optional use of face masks despite the continuing threat of COVID-19 to public health.

A nationwide Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted from December 10-14, 2022, showed 91 percent of Filipinos approved the government’s rule that gives an individual the discretion to use a face mask.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 7, which allows the voluntary use of face masks indoors and outdoors, on October 28, 2022.

In the SWS poll that involved 1,200 adult respondents, 64 percent said they “strongly approve” and 27 percent said they “somewhat approve” of the government directive.

READ: Finding COVID-19’s origins is a moral imperative–WHO’s Tedros

On the other hand, three percent said they “somewhat disapprove ” as one percent said they “strongly disapprove” of the order while four percent said they were “undecided” on the matter.

More than half of respondents likewise said they still prefer using face masks when out of their residences with 54 percent saying they “always” wear face masks, 22 percent wearing face masks “most of the time”; 15 percent “sometimes”; 8 percent, “rarely”; and 1 percent saying they “never” wear face masks.

9 in 10 OK voluntary face mask use during in-person classes

As for wearing a face mask during face-to-face classes, the SWS survey showed that 91 percent of respondents agree that it should not be compelled.

Sixty-five percent said they “strongly agree” that face mask use should be voluntary during in-person classes, while 26 percent “somewhat agree.” Three percent “somewhat disagree” and two percent “strongly disagree” with making wearing of face mask optional during face-to-face classes while three percent said they were “undecided” on the issue.

READ: WHO still working to identify the origins of COVID-19

Nevertheless, most of the respondents, or 81 percent, said they still require their children to “always” wear face mask in school while 11 percent said they let their children use face masks “most of the time” in school. Only five percent said they just make their children wear face masks in school “sometimes” as 3 percent said “rarely” and 0.5 percent “never.”

The SWS said the survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with a sampling error margin of ± 2.8 percent.

DOH: Survey results a ‘good news’

Department of Health officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said results of the SWS survey on face mask use indicate that Filipinos have now fully adopted necessary measures to protect themselves against COVID-19.

“Ito po ay isang magandang balita para sa ating bansa, para sa ating mga kababayan (This is good news for our country, for our countrymen),” Vergeire said in a press conference Tuesday.

“…Ang ibig sabihin lamang po ng survey na ito, pinapakita na ang bawat Filipino imbibed na po ang good health behavior kung paano puproteksyunan ang kanilang sarili,” she added.

(This survey only shows that every Filipino has imbibed the good health behavior of how to protect themselves.)

READ: The unending search for COVID-19’s origin

Vergeire expressed hope that this attitude will continue beyond avoiding and preventing coronavirus infection but also other transmissible diseases.

Vergeire then reiterated their reminder to the public to continue wearing face mask when going to high-risk locations and events.

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KGA/abc