MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte stated on Monday that wearing face shields is a “little price to pay” to avoid an imminent “crisis” caused by new coronavirus strains.
Duterte justified his decision to maintain the required face shield policy, stressing the need to be more cautious in the light of the extremely contagious Delta coronavirus variant (B1617), which was first detected in India.
He stated that the Philippines could not afford another coronavirus outbreak because it would affect the country’s economy.
He also mentioned that some Covid-19 vaccines may be resistant to the new coronavirus strain.
“I will apologize to the Filipino people that this thing was being discussed openly and many thought that we were ready to do away with the face [shields]. But with the kind of aggressive infection that poses a very grave danger to…it’s a small inconvenience, actually. I know that it is inconvenient really to be wearing the mask, adjusting it from time to time. But that is only a very small price to pay than rather gamble with doing away with it and courting disaster,” Duterte said during a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), some Cabinet members, and medical experts.
Following the health experts’ advice to “triple” measures against the Delta coronavirus strain, he decided to maintain the required face shield regulation.
“As of now, the face [shield] is on…It is to the national interest that we must triple our effort because I said we do not know if it would require a new vaccine which has to be invented first. Second, we cannot afford a second wave because it might be far worse than the first and then we will have a problem with the economy and as I said it would be disaster for the country,” he added.
He also emphasized that he never declared absolutely that the face shield requirement would be lifted.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said last week that Duterte has agreed that the public should only be obliged to wear a face shield when visiting hospitals.
However, the IATF-EID requested that the law pertaining the use of face shields in enclosed public venues such as commercial establishments, malls, and public transportation should be retained.
“When I mention about the face shield, I was only shooting the breeze with the members of the Congress who were there. I never said with finality that we will do away with the face shield,” Duterte said.
Duterte persisted that “the stricter you are, the better” with regard to Covid-19 prevention.
“I’m constrained really to go back to the old practice because of this danger posed by the Delta coronavirus variant,” he said.
Dr. Anna Ong-Lim of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine remarked at the same meeting that studies have shown that using face shields, together with face masks and physical distancing, can lower the chance of Covid-19 infection.
“Sabi po ng authors, siyempre po wala pong nag-iisang intervention na puwede pong magbigay ng buong protection, but of course pag pinagsasama-sama po natin ‘to, nakakatulong (The authors say that of course there is no single intervention that can give full protection, but of course if you combine all of this, it could help). And this is what we advise in our minimum public health standards as necessary for mitigation of transmission of Covid-19),” Ong-Lim said.
The IATF-EID required the use of both face shields and face masks outside residences in December 2020.
