MANILA – Malacañang announced on Thursday that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) will release an updated guidelines on the usage of face shield.
This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte approved the Technical Advisory Group’s suggestion that face shields be required in locations with “high-risk” operations.
Modifications to the existing policy on face shield use will be reviewed at the IATF-EID meeting on Thursday afternoon, according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.
“Inaasahan po natin na aamyendahan ng IATF ‘yung guidelines na naapektuhan dahil nga po doon sa kautusan ng ating Presidente (We expect that the IATF will amend the guidelines [on use of face shield] following the President’s directive),” Roque said in an online press conference.
Duterte stated in a pre-recorded Talk to the People that Filipinos no longer need to wear face shields unless they are in “3Cs,” or “closed and crowded” locations, and in places where there are activities that “promote close contact”.
Duterte stated that his new order would go into force immediately.
According to Roque, the amended guidelines may include a list of “3Cs”.
“Hintayin po natin ang guidelines mamaya (Let us wait for the guidelines later),” he said.
To combat the spread of Covid-19, the IATF-EID adopted Resolution 88 on December 14, 2020, requiring all persons to wear full-coverage face shields on top of face masks in all public locations.
However, in June of this year, Duterte issued a “presidential policy” to loosen the government’s face shield mandate by allowing its use only in hospitals.
Due to the prevalence of the more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant, he eventually opted to stick with the IATF-EID’s original policy of requiring the use of face shields in public areas.
