The government is requiring all residents under enhanced community quarantine to wear face masks whenever they leave their homes to buy essential items or seek medical attention.
Karlo Nograles, spokesman of the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID), said any kind of face masks can be worn.
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“Sa mga lugar kung saan ipinapatupad ang ECQ (enhanced community quarantine), lahat po ng mga kababayan natin na lalabas sa kanilang tahanan para mamili ay required na po gumamit ng face mask, panyo, face shields o anumang kagamitan na makakatulong sa pagpigil ng pagkalat ng COVID-19 virus,” Nograles said.
“Kahit improvised ito o panyo, basta po may pangtakip tayo ng bibig at ilong,” he added.
Local government units are mandated to issue necessary executive orders or ordinances on the mandatory wearing of face masks and impose such penalties as may be appropriate.
It is not known what prompted the IATF to require wearing face masks in public places, contrary to the guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO).
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The WHO guideline said people in the frontlines such as doctors and nurses, and those who are sick should wear face masks.
However, there is an ongoing debate among public health officials worldwide about the need to use face masks. Scientific studies are emerging that the SARS-COV-2 virus remain in the air, suggesting a strong possibility that transmission may have been through those micro-droplets that stayed within confined spaces or even during conversations.
