Are we really ready to ditch our face masks?
That was the question Lagunenses now face (pun intended) as health officials overseeing the management of the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic recommended the “loosening” of the last vestige of the restrictions brought by the global pandemic: that of mandatory use of face masks in public places.
Situation under control
Health officials in Laguna province told OpinYon Laguna that even though the number of active Covid-19 cases in the province are still in the hundreds,the Covid-19 situation in Laguna is now “under control.”
As of the latest data released by the DOH last Thursday (September 8, Laguna province has recorded 368 active Covid-19 cases, the third highest in the Calabarzon region.
“With the trend na bumababa na ang cases ng Covid-19 dito sa province and continuous pa rin ang vaccination activities natin, relatively, the Covid-19 situation is under control,” Dr. Rene Bagamasbad, head of the Laguna Provincial Health Office (PHO), told OpinYon Laguna.
Optional mask mandate
Bagamasbad made the statement in reply to OpinYon’s queries regarding the recent recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) that outdoor use of face masks should be made optional and voluntary.
In a press briefing last September 7, Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the recommendation covers the optional wearing of face masks, but only for low-risk individuals and in low-risk settings.
This comes as several countries, including the United States, has already loosened their own face masks mandates, except in indoor venues and in public transportation.
“Ni-liberalize natin ‘yung paggamit ng masks sa outdoors pero doon sa low-risk individuals and in low risks settings meaning hindi sila matanda, hindi sila immunocompromised. And low risk setting, ibig sabihin doon sa mga area na hindi matao at saka maayos po ang daloy ng hangin,” she said.
The recommendation also includes the pilot study on the wearing of masks indoors in selected areas.
The task force noted that its implementation must be done in phases to ensure the population’s protection against the coronavirus.
“Tayo po ngayon ay kumakalap na ng ebidensiya, gumagawa na rin po tayo ng concept paper kung saan ‘yung study, kung saan paano natin gagawin yung study ng pagpa-pilot,” Vergeire said.
She said the optional wearing of face masks outdoors is not yet a policy and the DOH, as the chair of the IATF, is “initially informing the public about the recommendation.”
Without categorically agreeing on the IATF’s suggestion, Bagamasbad said that such loosening of face mask restrictions will be based on “certain conditions.”
“Yung suggestion ng IATF na optional masking ay base sa certain conditions, like pag nasa open space at malayo sa mga tao, doon pwede wala ang mask. But if nasa crowded area or nasa public transport, kailangan naka-mask. So depend sa certain situation kaya option ng person kung kailangan mag-mask,” the local official said in a message to OpinYon Laguna.
“For vulnerables like senior citizen and immuno-compromised persons, they still need to wear masks,” Bagamasbad added.
Data shows low risk
The latest statistics from the DOH have shown that Laguna province can now be considered as "low risk" of Covid-19 - thus, the decision to finally make the wearing of face masks optional in open areas.
According to data from the DOH website's Covid-19 tracker, Laguna province has posted a bed occupancy rate of 28.5 percent or about one-fourth of its registered hospital capacity for Covid-19 patients, with 204 occupied and 511 vacant beds as of September 8.
Of these, only 13 out of 76 ICU beds in the province are currently occupied with Covid-19 patients, while 191 out of 639 non-ICU beds are occupied.
The utilization of mechanical ventilators in the province also remained low, with just ten out of 80 ventilators being used by Covid-19 patients.
These numbers were gathered from the 77 percent of health facilities in the province which have submitted their data to the DOH Data Collect Hub.
The province's weekly positivity rate, or the number of individuals who tested positive for Covid-19 compared to the number of those tested, has also remained low at 12 percent as of September 4, while the Average Daily Attack Rate (ADAR) is now 2.33 per 100,000 population.
Continuous vaccination
One chief contributor to the “under-control” Covid-19 situation in Laguna province is the aggressive campaign of local governments in the province to get Lagunenses to receive booster shots against Covid-19, Bagamasbad also reported.
In his report, the PHO head noted that 92.59 percent of the 80-percent target population in Laguna province, or equivalent to 2.5 million out of the total 3.4 million population of Laguna province (as of the 2020 census) are now fully-vaccinated against Covid-19.
Meanwhile, 57.14 percent of the 1.2 million target population have received their first booster shots, which 14.64 percent have received their second booster.
“For ages 11 to 17 years old, 114 percent na ang fully vaccinated, while the 5 to 11 age bracket ay 32.7 percent, since recent lang tayo nagbakuna ng mga bata. Meanwhile, 85.64 percent ng senior citizens sa ating probinsya ay fully vaccinated na,” Bagamasbad added.
Some local government units in the province such as Biñan and Cabuyao have also started giving out free rice packs to persons who have received their booster shots as part of encouraging more residents to get further protected against Covid-19. (See separate story in this issue).
“Yung strategies ng mga LGUs na magbigay ng bigas at freebies para makahikayat ng mga magpapabakuna. Tayo naman ay walang tigil na nagpropromote na magpabakuna ang lahat na eligibles. Lahat maintain ang vaccination sites, sabay dito ang house-to-house [campaign] ng mga vaccinators,” Bagamasbad said.