The Department of Health (DOH) on Friday said it needs another week to study proposals to scrap the need to use face shields in more places as the government plans to reopen the economy further by allowing the entry of international tourists “in due time.”
The proposal to scrap the use of face shields was tackled during a meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATFI) Thursday evening, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
“The DOH asked for one more week to study this,” Vergeire said in Filipino.
The government previously required face shields in all public areas, making the Philippines the only country in the world with such a mandate.
In September, President Rodrigo Duterte said the covering was no longer required in open spaces and would only be required in areas that are crowded, closed, and which would cause close contact.
A vaccine expert panel member favored the recommendations to make the wearing of face shields voluntary.
In an interview on Balitanghali, Dr. Rontgene Solante, who is also the head of the Adult Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine Unit at San Lazaro Hospital, said that it is good to give the public the option to wear the protective gear or not.
“Yes, I think we can approve that at this point when COVID-19 cases are decreasing and a lot of Filipinos are already vaccinated,” Solante said.
Wearing a face mask, however, is still a must, as is maintaining physical distancing, he said.
The Palace, for its part, said the Philippines will reopen to international tourists “in due time.”
Palace spokesman Harry Roque said the government would study the experiences of other countries that have reopened their tourism activities.
The DOH, meanwhile, said the alert level system first tested in Metro Manila would be expanded nationwide by Dec. 1.
The government began the pilot rollout of the 5-level COVID-19 alert system and accompanying granular lockdowns in mid-September, before expanding it to several other areas in a bid to spur business activity.
“We have areas that will be part of the pilot implementation next week and then until the end of November. By Dec. 1, the whole population or the whole country will shift to this policy and we will start its full implementation,” Vergeire said.