Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Rontgene Solante said Tuesday, Sept. 6, that lifting of the face mask mandate in the National Capital Region (NCR) is “not yet possible.”
In the Laging Handa briefing, Solante said that there are “metrics” that should be considered including the number of positivity rates and booster vaccination in the region.
This after the Province of Cebu lifted the mandatory use of face masks.
“Pwede natin gayahin, but not at this point in time, of this pandemic. Meron tayong mga metrics na dapat in place, kagaya ng number of cases, including the number of positivity rate and more importantly, ‘yung booster vaccination,” Solante said.
“Sa ngayon, at this point, if we are allowing anybody na magluwag na sa pagsuot ng face mask, then makikita talaga natin na sa tingin nila mas lalo silang magiging kampante sila na hindi na sila magpa-booster,” he added.
He also noted that NCR cannot yet lift the face mask requirement due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the region.
“Hindi pwedeng ganun, because we experience still more cases na nakita natin sa mga hospital ngayon, ‘yung mga vulnerable population. We need to think of this pandemic as we always be cautious in telling persons that wala na yung pandemic.” he said.
“Mababa na ‘yung kaso, because there is still vulnerable population, high risk of severe COVID-19, and in fact, mataas ang mortlity sa mga population na ito,” he added. -Katrina Gracia Consebido/gb
