DOH recommends surgical face masks in areas with COVID-19 case spike

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday recommended the use of surgical face masks instead of cloth masks in areas seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire explained that the World Health Organization (WHO)’s interim recommendation is for the public to use surgical masks in “high-risk settings” or areas with a rise in cases and new variants.

She added, however, that local experts part of the country’s Living Clinical Practice Guidelines reviewers are further studying the WHO’s recommendation.

“Sa ngayon, ang ating rekomendasyon, kung kaya niyo na mag-surgical mask, especially in those areas na matataas po ang kaso, let’s use surgical mask,” Vergeire said in an online forum.

(For now, our recommendation is that if you can wear a surgical mask, especially in those areas with a high number of cases, let’s use surgical mask.)

The health official said medical-grade masks, such as surgical masks, offer better protection as they are designed to filter organisms in the air.

“Pero kung hindi naman po kakayanin ng komunidad [ang surgical mask], cloth mask can still give protection. Hindi po natin tinatanggal 'yan sa equation,” Vergeire assured.

(But if a surgical mask isn’t possible, a cloth mask can still give protection. We are not removing that from the equation.)

Dr. Nina Castillo-Carandang, a member of the DOH All Experts Group, also stressed the importance of regularly washing and properly drying cloth masks.

The Philippines is battling a renewed uptick in infections following local transmission of the highly contagious Delta variant, which has so far been detected in 807 cases. 

The country has tallied over 1.77 million COVID-19 cases with 1,629,426 recoveries and 30,462 deaths as of August 17. —KG, GMA News