The Department of Health (DOH) said that it still prefers the public to wear their face masks amid the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’s (IATF) recommendation to only use the masks as voluntary when outdoors.
DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a statement that the IATF Resolution Number 1, s. 2022 was only recommendatory and was sent to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for consideration.
“The position of the DOH is for us to continue on masking, but there were several data that were presented also that led to this decision,” Vergeire said.
“We needed to balance between the health and economy, and what we have compromised would be, this will be done among low risk individuals and in low risk settings,” she added.
Vergeire added that optional masking should only be allowed to “low risk individuals” which does not include senior citizens, people with comorbidities, children, and those who have symptoms with Covid-19.
— Ronald Espartinez