President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday he was not joking when he told people to disinfect their face masks with gasoline, after the Chief Executive was criticized for advising the public last week to do so to kill the coronavirus.
Duterte had suggested disinfecting masks, and even hands, with gasoline or diesel, in case disinfectants or alcohol is not available amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and the Department of Health earlier dismissed Duterte’s suggestion as a joke.
But in a televised briefing on Friday, the President insisted he is serious, saying: “That’s true. If you don’t have alcohol, go to the nearest gasoline station and have them drip it (with gasoline). That’s disinfectant.”
“They say Dutere is crazy, stupid. If I’m crazy, then you can be President, not me. You think I’m kidding, but truly, I am not kidding. You try to go inside my brain,” he said.
Health Undersecretary Rosario Vergeire said last week that surgical and N95 masks are for single use only, but the public can wash their cloth masks for disinfection and use them again.
An association of chemists in the country also warned the public on Friday against using gasoline as a disinfectant.
“We remind everyone that gasoline is not used as a cleanser or disinfectant for anything. It is harmful to humans, especially if its fumes are inhaled,” the Integrated Chemists of the Philippines said in a Facebook post.
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Meanwhile, the government is encouraging the public to wear face shields in public spaces with low ventilation to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
In a press statement, Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Diseases (IATF-EID) is considering directing the public to use face shields to complement the wearing of face masks in low ventilation settings, including public transportation.
Roque clarified there is no order yet compelling the public to wear face shields.
“Studies have shown that wearing of face shields, in addition to wearing of masks and physical distancing, would further reduce virus transmission in low ventilation settings,” said Roque, who also serves as IATF-EID spokesperson.
He said wearing face shields is also part of the minimum public health standards that need to be observed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Other minimum health standards that must be followed by the public are the wearing of face masks, washing of hands, and the practice of physical distancing.
“The IATF, in its Omnibus Guidelines, defines minimum public health standards as ‘public health measures that do not involve vaccines, medications, or other pharmaceutical interventions, which individuals and communities can carry out in order to reduce transmission rates, contact rates, and the duration of infectiousness of individuals in the population to mitigate Covid-19,’” Roque said.
The IATF-EID, in its Resolution 60-A approved on Thursday, also required all government units (LGUs) to observe the strict enforcement of minimum public health standards, especially in high-risk areas, such as “health care settings, wet markets, supermarkets, government offices, and workplaces.”
In concurrence with regional IATF, the LGUs are also mandated to impose localized community quarantine and ensure the availability of identified quarantine facilities in critical areas with community transmission.
They are also told to immediately isolate infected individuals, scale up the local health capacity, and submit complete and accurate COVID-19 data.