The Department of Education (DepEd) is coordinating with the Department of Health (DOH) to craft new guidelines on wearing face masks in schools.
DepEd spokesman Michael Poa said on Thursday the agency would update its health protocols in schools after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made the use of face masks optional in outdoor areas.
“We will consult the DOH because there are times when our learners go to open spaces. We will incorporate them into our health guidelines.
We will issue the guidelines very, very soon,” Poa said in a press conference.
Despite the easing of the outdoor mask mandate, Filipinos should still wear face masks as their “default” habit, especially in so-called high-risk areas, DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
In her speech at a workplace booster vaccination activity at the headquarters of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, Vergeire reminded the public to be conscious of when to keep their masks on or off.
These “high-risk” situations, she said, include crowded places, enclosed spaces, public transportation, or areas with poor ventilation. Anticipating these as well as knowing if one is immunocompromised, sick, or part of at-risk populations will “greatly determine” if one needs to keep a mask on, she added.
“These are the things we would like to instill in each and every Filipino, that masking would always protect us—it is our default,” Vergeire said.
Meanwhile, Malacañang remains increasingly optimistic about the Philippines’ economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles made this remark following the statement made by World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that “the end is in sight” for the pandemic.
Cruz-Angeles cited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s decision to ease the face mask policy as among the measures expected to spur economic growth.
“We are continuing with our economic recovery program and our very recent relaxed mask mandate [is] also pursuant to that one,” she said in a Palace press briefing.
Sharing the same view with the WHO chief, Cruz-Angeles said she also sees a rosy economic outlook for the Philippines.
“If the World Health Organization is optimistic, so are we in our outlook to recovering from this pandemic,” she added.
However, the DOH reported a slight increase in the country’s COVID-19 positivity rate on Thursday.
“As of Sept. 13, 2022, overall, the national positivity rate increased to 12.5 percent from 12 percent last week,” the Health Department said in a statement.
The positivity rate refers to the percentage of all tests reported that are positive. The WHO recommends a 5-percent threshold for COVID-19 positivity rate.
The country is also averaging 2,201 daily coronavirus infections as of Sept. 14, the DOH said.
Poa said the DepEd would also release data on the number of students and teachers who have contracted COVID-19 since the start of School Year 2022-2023, which saw many schools resume in-person classes at full capacity.
He said COVID-19 cases are expected in classroom settings but what the DepEd wants to prevent are “major surges.”
“Nationally, we are seeing a slow continued decline in cases, with reported cases in the recent week being 7 percent lower than the previous, which recorded an average of 2,369 cases daily,” the DOH said.
According to the President’s Executive Order No. 3, face masks should still be worn in indoor private or public establishments, public transportation, and outdoor settings where physical distancing cannot be maintained.
The same order said individuals who are not fully vaccinated, senior citizens, and the immunocompromised are highly encouraged to wear their masks.
Some health experts have raised concerns it would drive infections anew.
The DOH earlier said it is not yet time to loosen restrictions on indoor masking or face-to-face classes.
“We should know when we should remove our mask,” Vergeire said.
“We all know what our risk level is, so whenever we will remove our mask, we will always think, ‘Can I be in this situation?” she said.
Vergeire added that with voluntary masking, people going out should also practice keeping their masks clean when not being used, such as using plastic sleeves or containers.
“We should know the masks we use, we already have them. Or maybe, we have a strap that is always folded so that it does not contain other organisms or other particulates that can get dirty. As if we put it on, it’s still clean. So, let’s get used to it and always do it,” she said.
Vergeire led the booster vaccination activity at the headquarters of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) in Mandaluyong City organized in tandem with other agencies and the city.
Almost 98 percent of the food-and-beverage conglomerate’s employees have already been fully vaccinated, but only over 71 percent have received their first boosters.
Vergeire said the booster drive, especially in workplaces, remains part of the health agency’s key efforts to strengthen immunity.
There are more than 1,500 workplace-based vaccination sites across the country, she said.