The Bacolod City Council has approved a resolution requesting the Department of Education (DepEd)-Division of Bacolod City through Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to encourage parents, students, and faculty to wear face masks inside enclosed spaces and within the school premises to prevent the spread of pertussis or whooping cough.
The resolution, authored by Councilor Claudio Puentevella, was approved during the regular session of the City Council on Wednesday afternoon, April 3.
Puentevella, chairperson of the City Council committee on health, said pertussis spreads easily from person to person mainly through droplets produced by coughing or sneezing.
He said the disease is most dangerous in infants and is a significant cause of disease and death in this age group.
He added on March 22, in a televised press briefing, Dr. Rontgene Solante, president of Philippine College of Physicians and an infectious disease expert, advised and encourages the public to wear face mask, since pertussis can be transmitted through respiratory droplets and that wearing of face mask is a best practice in preventing the spread and transmission of pertussis.
Puentevella noted that according to the World Health Organization, pertussis, or whooping cough, is a highly contagious respiratory infection caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis.
"The Department of Education division of Bacolod is hereby enjoined to encourage students, parents, faculty, and staff to wear facemask within enclosed areas and within the school premises to prevent the spread and transmission of pertussis," Puentevella said.*