President Rodrigo Duterte has defended the administration’s mandate on the use of face shields in public areas to ensure that no COVID-19 infection and transmission will further occur.
“Itong (this) face shield will provide an added premium of prevention,” Duterte claimed in his pre-recorded nation address.
The chief executive insisted that wearing face shields matters as it protects people regardless of how little.
“It might not really be a big percentage, but even if it’s just 5% more protected because you have the shield, mas maganda na yan (that is way better). Ano ba naman ‘yang inconvenience (the inconvenience is nothing compared) to the fact of getting sick and probably die,” he expressed.
The national government has ordered the mandatory use of face shields, hoping to curb the soaring positive cases across the country.
Its effectivity, however, has long been questioned by different critics including the World Health Organization (WHO) which stressed that the imposition of the policy requiring the use of face shields against COVID-19 in the Philippines is subject to review.
The WHO also emphasized that the Philippines remains to be one of the few countries that urge its citizens to wear face shields atop masks amid the debate regarding its effectiveness.
Despite its helpful effect to protect people “from poor wearing of mask practices”, the WHO said there is still no enough solid evidence to consider that face shields contribute to public’s protection.
Manila Mayor Francisco Isko Moreno has also earlier called out the government to purchase medicines like remdesivir and tocilizumab rather than focusing on face shields.
The procurement of face shields along with other personal protective equipment is currently under investigation in the Senate for the alleged overpricing of the items which the Palace has been consistently denying.