More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government.
Marcos has now officially signed an EO making masking wearing voluntary.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has issued an executive order allowing the voluntary wearing of face mask indoors across the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Malacañang announced on Friday.
Executive Order No. 7 also retains the previous policy of voluntary face mask use outdoors.
Under the order, a copy which was released by the Palace, face masks must still be worn inside healthcare facilities, medical transport vehicles, and public transportation.
Further, mask wearing is still encouraged among the elderly, individuals with comorbidities, pregnant women, unvaccinated individuals, and symptomatic patients.
"As a result of continued immunization, countries around the world have been instituting measures such as reopening of international borders, and relaxation of health and safety protocols and requirements, resulting in immediate positive impact to their economies," the EO read.
Other Southeast Asian countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia have already relaxed their mask mandates.
Despite the eased face mask policy, the government reiterated that minimum public health standards must still be followed.
The DOH continues its fear mongering.
COVID-19 infections could go up to 18,000 a day by late 2022 if the government pushes through with making face masks optional even indoors, the Department of Health said Thursday.
Citing projections by scientists, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire told ABS CBN News Channel that daily COVID-19 cases may range from 2,500 to as high as 18,000 if masking rules are further loosened.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco earlier announced that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. will issue an executive order allowing the voluntary wearing of face masks indoors.
Masks will still be required in public transportation and in medical settings, Frasco added.
Vergeire said the health department had presented possible scenarios to the government’s inter-agency task force on pandemic response concerning mask mandates. She, however, noted that the task force is a collegial body.
"There’s this agreement with [the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases] that we will still have unified messaging wherein we still highly encourage wearing of masks, especially in high-risk areas like public transport, health facilities and for the vulnerable like the elderly, pregnant women, the unvaccinated," she said.
The position of the DOH has always been to continue wearing masks to protect people from getting COVID-19. In September, the agency warned it was not yet time to ease mask wearing outdoors, but was overruled by the IATF and by the executive order of Marcos.
Interesting to note that if the DOH had its way everyone would still be forced to wear a face mask the moment they stepped outside their house! They want to make sure everyone uses "all layers of COVID-19 protection available."
Experts from the Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday appeared cautious about the impending move of the administration to make face mask use indoors voluntary.
Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, a DOH’s Technical Advisory Group Pediatric Infectious Diseases member, warned that based on past COVID-19 infection trends, virus transmission is bound to increase, especially with full face-to-face classes by November.
(So maybe for me, from the pediatric infectious disease perspective, there is nothing to lose if children continue to wear masks, especially in school settings where implementation of full in-person classes is about to start.)
She also said it might be easier to observe the effects of eased health protocols if the curbs are removed one by one.
(I think we have learned enough in the past two years to realize that masking is very valuable. Although it’s not particularly difficult, I think we’ve all gotten used to this health habit that helps not just for COVID but for many other diseases, particularly respiratory symptoms.)
“So let’s continue to use all the layers that we have at our disposal,” she added.
Metro Manila Center for Health Development (MMCHD) Director IV Dr. Alethea de Guzman likewise expressed similar sentiments, but stressed the importance of focusing more on the admission rate than the transmission rate.
She explained that once the level of protection given by the mandatory use of face masks is removed, the government and the public should then observe the number of admissions, especially in severe and critical cases.
“These past few months have shown us that even though we had increases in our cases, our health system capacity was able to actually accommodate these increases in cases. Kasama na an ICU dito (This includes the ICU),” de Guzman said.
Does that include wearing an equally useless face shield?
Face masks are now voluntary in schools as well.
A day before full face-to-face classes resume in public schools, the Department of Education announced that students are free to choose whether they will use face masks on campus — even indoors.
DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa made this announcement on Tuesday, saying that this is in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order No. 7 scrapping the mask mandate.
Of course, the DepEd still recommends students wear masks to prevent a surge.
Residents of one town in Zambales will not be allowed in the cemetery for Undas unless they have been vaccinated.
Residents of San Marcelino town who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 would be barred from the public cemetery during “Undas,” the local government announced.
In an advisory on Wednesday, Oct. 26, San Marcelino Mayor Elmer Soria reminded residents to follow the policies, including COVID-19-related restrictions, that the local government issued for visiting the dead on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (Nov. 1 and Nov. 2).
Residents were asked to continue wearing face masks to avoid the spread of the virus, according to the town’s public information office.
Unvaccinated residents are left out in the cold but both unvaccinated and vaccinated residents still have to wear face masks. Proof that the vaccine is as useless as the face mask! Why not just require everyone in the cemetery to wear a face mask?
Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion says restaurants should ditch vaccination card requirements.
Businesses must discontinue requiring clients to present a COVID-19 vaccination card, former presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion said on Friday.
Concepcion stressed that restaurants in other countries no longer require vaccination cards before consumers can dine in.
(In restaurants around the world, a vaccination card is no longer required. So, I think, we should just let it go already.)
“If the person wants to take the risk and get sick, then what can we do? I’ve attended so many engagements, and everybody is eating together without the mask,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing.
Concepcion said that people should learn to live with the virus, noting that they already know what actions to take.
(Are we afraid of getting sick? Then use a face mask and observe social distancing.)
(But if you think that you can handle it, then don’t wear a face mask.)
Those words are heresy in this climate. If vaccination cards at restaurants go it's only a matter of time before vaccination cards across the board will be nixed and then the vaccination rate will drop which means the government will have procured billions of pesos worth of vaccines it will never use.
Not only has Marcos now lifted the indoor mask mandate but he has also eased travel restrictions.
President Ferdinand Marcos has approved the removal of the COVID-19 test requirements for incoming visitors and the lifting of the mask-wearing mandate for indoor settings.
Department of Tourism (DOT) Sec. Christina Garcia Frasco made the announcement in a press briefing at the Malacañang Palace on October 25, following the Cabinet Meeting with the President.
In line with the President’s vision to facilitate ease of travel and tourist convenience, Frasco said the direction taken by national government agencies is towards the liberalization of travel protocols in the country.
“The direction of the Marcos Administration is to lift the remainder of travel restrictions into the Philippines, and that includes easing of our mask mandates to allow our country to be at par with our ASEAN neighbors who have long liberalized their mask mandates,” said Frasco.
“In addition to this, it was also discussed that the remainder of stringent protocols, such as the requirement of pre-departure testing into the Philippines would also be removed,” added the DOT Chief.
She also announced that Marcos will issue an executive order that will allow fully-vaccinated visitors coming to the Philippines to be allowed without the COVID-19 test requirement. Meanwhile, unvaccinated guests, will be given the option to take an antigen test 24 hours before travel or upon arrival in the Philippines. This policy will supersede the stringent COVID-19 test and quarantine requirements for vaccinated and unvaccinated visitors.
Despite these kind of overtures and his willingness to get back to normal Marcos is not willing to lift the state of emergency.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. will not lift the state of public health emergency due to Covid-19 yet, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday, Oct. 28.
DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire was asked about it following the recent meeting of Marcos with World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“I don’t think there would be that kind of concept although Dr. Tedros told the President that there was just a recent meeting among the higher officials of the WHO which decides on this public health emergency,” said Vergeire in a press briefing.
“He specifically told the President that in the recent meeting, the vote was to still continue on with the public health emergency,” she added.
“‘Not yet at this time,’ he told that to the President and the President said ‘yes, we understand,’” furthered Vergeire.
The DOH OIC believes that Marcos will not lift the public health emergency immediately.
“I think the President would do this gradually… And of course he is trying to balance also. So, I don’t think there is this kind of thinking already…right now immediately,” said Vergeire.
Remember, as long as the state of emergency exists the government does not have to go through the proper channels to procure vaccines or any other items related to the pandemic.
Only 32 provinces remain under alert level 2.
Thirty-two areas in the country were placed under Covid-19 Alert Level 2 from Nov. 1 to Nov. 15, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. approved the latest Covid-19 Alert Level System (ALS) classifications for provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities, the DOH said in a statement on Monday, Oct. 31.
“Thirty-two provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities are under Alert Level 2,” the DOH said.
On the other hand, 89 out of 121 provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities were placed under Alert Level 1, the DOH said.
The DOH has observed a decline in the country’s case trend and hospital admissions.
“This means that our key indicators, such as the healthcare utilization rate (HCUR), are showing improvements. We attribute this development to every Filipino who continues to cooperate with our Covid-19 response,” said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“But while we see a continuous decline in case and admission trends, we must remember that deescalation does not mean that the battle with Covid-19 is already over. These current numbers are not permanent; we must all work together to maintain these low numbers,” she added.
There is no doubt that, for all practical purposes, the pandemic is over. Now it's time to prepare for the next pandemic. That includes building a virology institute. The Philippines certainly needs a DOH secretary now and not later but the current OIC says that DOH operations have not been interrupted in the meantime.
The same OIC, Maria Rosario Vergerie, says the Philippines is better prepared for a fresh COVID-19 surge.
The Philippines is "better prepared" should there be a surge in COVID-19 infections, the country's top health official said Friday, as the government planned to further relax health protocols.
According to Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, the country's healthcare system was able to "manage" hospital admissions due to COVID-19 in the past months.
(We think we are better prepared if and when cases increase again and this is what we are saying in our projections.)
Vergeire was referring to the DOH's latest forecast of up to 18,000 daily COVID-19 cases towards the end of the year.
The projection was made as the government is set to lift the indoor mask mandate despite the presence of more contagious coronavirus variants. The agency also examined the country's vaccination coverage and the public's compliance to health protocols.
Vergeire reminded the public their forecasts are "not cast in stone".
"Hindi porke na na-project ang numero, mangyayari talaga siya. These projections are used for government to plan, for government to prepare [and] for government to be guided," she added.
"If and when cases increase again?" Cases are down! Sounds like more fear mongering. At least she admits these are projections not set in stone.
