AN OFFICIAL of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force said on Friday, May 13, the face mask mandate should remain since some neighboring local government units still have low vaccination rates.
This comes after Dr. Jose Rene De Grano, focal person of the Private Hospital Association of the Philippines, recommended lifting the face mask mandate two to three months from now since many people have been vaccinated and Covid-19 cases are declining.
But Covid-19 Task Force Spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said lifting the face mask policy in Davao City may not be feasible soon.
She said the face mask mandate should only be lifted if most areas in Davao Region or nationwide have reached 80 percent vaccinated population, similar to what Davao City has achieved, to ensure health security against Covid-19.
“By numbers, probably, daghan-daghan na (there are a lot) but we need to remember that it should be across LGUs across the nation ang at least naka-70 to 80 (to have at least 70 to 80) percent vaccinated,” Schlosser said during radio interview.
“The data is showing dili pa gyod nato pwede ma-generalize, for instance, ang pa tanggal sa mask (we cannot remove the face mask mandate yet for everyone) because the other neighboring LGU’s dili ingana kadaghan ang na-achieve in terms of vaccination (have not yet achieved high vaccination rates)” Schlosser said during radio interview on Friday, May 13, 2022.
Schlosser also said the public should remain cautious because the spread of the virus is still imminent, especially via interzonal or local travel, since Covid-19 is not yet eradicated from the region or the country.
Since March of this year, Davao City has remained its Alert Level 1 status while the rest of the provinces in Davao Region, namely Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao de Oro, Davao Oriental, and Davao Occidental ascended to Alert Level 2.