The Davao City government does not consider scrapping the wearing of face masks mandate in the city as it remains one of the public health measures to protect Dabawenyos against Sars-CoV 2 – the virus that causes the coronavirus disease.
Dr. Michelle Schlosser, the Spokesperson of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force, said that the city government has no plans to lift the rule on the wearing of face masks as mandated under Executive Order 11 Series of 2022.
Schlosser in an interview on the Davao City Disaster Radio said that Mayor Inday Sara Duterte, the head of the COVID-19 Task Force does not consider the option of lifting the face mask restriction be it in open or enclosed spaces.
“Wala na siya ginapag-usapan. Wala pud gi-consider sa atoang good Mayor Sara (It was not discussed. It was also not considered by our good Mayor Sara),” she said, adding that lifting the only minimum public health standard was not even considered a viable option.
“At the moment we do not see it necessary na i-lift na nga restriction. We did not see it necessary nga walaon siya na health protocol (At the moment we do not see it necessary to lift the restriction. We did not see it necessary to remove this protocol),” Schlosser said.
She said that every local government unit has the power to implement its own rules based on its executive power and has a right to implement its protocols.
“Kung unsa man ang gipatuman sa Cebu, dili necessary ipatuman diri sa Davao City kay naa man ta’y uban na mandato diri base sa atoang executive power (Whatever the Cebu implements, it is not necessary that it will be implemented here in Davao City because we have a different mandate based on our executive power),” Schlosser added.
Schlosser underscored that wearing of face mask is still strongly recommended by the Department of Health and the World Health Organization as it is the only way to prevent the transmission of disease from respiratory droplets from infected and non-infected persons.
“The transmission can only be hampered through the wearing of facemasks. Dili baya nato makita ang respiratory droplets it is very microscopic (The transmission can only be hampered through the wearing of facemasks. We cannot see the respiratory droplets it is very microscopic),” Schlosser said.
She noted that Davao City has still Covid-19 cases, at the same time not all people in Davao City are vaccinated. She said that face masks are part of the prevention of transmission simultaneously done with the administration of vaccines to prevent the severity of the Covid-19. The wearing of a facemask also gives protection from other diseases which can be transmitted through respiratory droplets.
“Ang unang layer of protection nato is through wearing of face mask and ang strong layer of protection nato against the severity of the disease is magpabakuna gyud (The first layer of protection is through the wearing of face mask and strong layer of protection against the disease is vaccination),” Schlosser said. CIO
