Do not rush in removing those masks, especially in public. The life you save is not just yours but many others. Always abide by the health safety guidelines. Even if you are fully- vaccinated and completed your booster shots, you are still not safe from COVID-19 and its mutations.
I am no fan of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, whose ineptness in handling the coronavirus and relations in mishandling the funds intended for health safety paraphernalia by awarding a multi-billion contract to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., was exposed at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearings.
But I would support his call to not abandon those face masks too soon because the virus—though a bit moderate than the Delta variant—is still very much around and can still cause a resurgence that would again set us back economically, socially, physically, mentally, and academically.
Amid clamor to discard the face masks requirements as part of the overall package to return to normal, Duque said “take it easy, don’t hurry on the masks, as risking fresh surges of infections will be costlier for everyone.”
Continue mask-wearing, WHO says
The World Health Organization keeps reminding fully- vaccinated people to keep wearing masks and practice other COVID-19 safety measures and this coronavirus keeps mutating and spreading quickly affecting even those fully- vaccinated.
“People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves,” Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, said at a recent news briefing in WHO Geneva headquarters.
“Vaccine alone won’t stop community transmission,” Simao added. “People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene ... the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if you’re vaccinated when you have a community transmission ongoing.”
The health organization’s comments came as some countries, including the United States, have largely done away with masks and pandemic-related restrictions as the Covid vaccines have helped drive down the number of new infections and deaths.
‘Play it safe’
WHO officials keep asking fully- vaccinated people to continue to “play it safe” because a large portion of the world remains unvaccinated and highly contagious variants, like delta, omicron, and most recently Muare spreading in many countries, spurring outbreaks.
“Yes, you can reduce some measures and different countries have different recommendations in that regard. But there’s still the need for caution,” Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor to the WHO’s director-general, said at the briefing. “As we are seeing, there are new variants emerging.”
It has the potential “to be more lethal because it’s more efficient in the way it transmits between humans and it will eventually find those vulnerable individuals who will become severely ill, have to be hospitalized and potentially die,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said.
‘Maybe 6 to 9 months of no surge’
Duque said “in about six to nine months, na wala nang [when there is no longer any] surge baka pwede na tayong magtanggal [maybe we can remove it], but depending on the data,” Duque III told reporters during a ceremonial vaccination event at SM San Lazaro in Manila.
Duque said that it would also depend on whether the Inter-Agency Task Force will accept the recommendation of experts to gradually remove the use of face masks.
Campaign sorties are super spreaders
However, Duque also expressed apprehension on the plan noting that it is already campaign season, when many events featuring candidates are always potential super spreader events.
“’Di po dapat magmadali, sayang naman. Nagmadadali ka, pag sumipa na naman ang kaso. Tumaas ang mechanical ventilator use rate mo. I alert level 4? 5? Ano, mag ECQ tayo? Ano, sarado na naman tayo? Ano ba naman ‘yung pag ma-mask? [We should not rush or our efforts will be put in vain. You are going to rush then cases will spike. Your mechanical ventilator use rate will increase. What happens then? Are we going back to alert level 4? 5? Are we going back to enhanced community quarantine? Are we going to close down? What is so hard with still wearing a mask?],” Duque stressed.
‘Get kids vaccinated’
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje encouraged parents to get their children vaccinated against Covid-19. With her nephew ‘Nikoy,” Cabotaje sought to make a strong pitch for pediatric vaccinations.
“I have…the son of my brother [with me], I have my [grandchild from a cousin] joining all of you here who believe and participate in this Covid-19 vaccination,” Cabotaje said.
From the mouth of babes
For his part, Nikoy said: “I would like to have my vaccine because I want everyone to be safe and protected. I am also not afraid of the vaccine because I know that I’ll be saving more than one life, so also your titos and titas [uncles and aunts] should have their vaccine if they’re still not yet vaccinated, so we can be the solution for Covid-19.”
The event, dubbed Chikiting DOH Ligtas sa Covid-19, aims to boost confidence among parents and guardians that vaccines are safe and effective, with children of Department of Health’s official and employees getting vaccinated.
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