Mask-wearing must continue for added protection —private hospitals group PHAPi

The public must continue to wear face masks as an added protection against the spread of COVID-19, the head of the Private Hospitals Association Philippines (PHAPi) said on Thursday.

“Kailangan ituloy po natin siguro until end of the year. Palagay ko wala naman magiging problema kung mag-wear tayo ng face mask at added protection po, mas maganda kaysa sa risk na ating haharapin kung sakaling mag-alis tayo ng face mask,” PHAPi president Dr. Jose De Grano said at the Laging Handa briefing.

(We need to continue wearing face masks, perhaps until the end of the year. I don't think there will be a problem if we wear a face mask; it is an added protection and better than the risk we will face if we take off our masks.)

De Grano also welcomed the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to place the National Capital Region and several other areas under Alert Level 1 from June 16 to June 30.

“Itong pagwe-wear natin ng mask ay additional protection ito, hindi lang po pang-COVID, para din po sa ibang sakit,” he added.

(Wearing of face masks is an additional protection for other diseases aside from COVID-19.)

De Grano also addressed the recent increase in non-COVID admissions in some private hospitals, due in part to the public's inability or unwillingness to go to the hospital for other conditions amid the pandemic.

“Ngayon dumadami yung admission namin sa non-COVID cases, most probably ito ay brought about dahil ito pong mga dating sakit nila mga comorbidities nila, halimbawa hypertension, diabetes, asthma, iba’t ibang sakit katulad ng cancer at saka mga sakit sa bato na napabayaan siguro for the past two years or more,” he said.

(Our admission of non-COVID cases is increasing, most probably brought about by other diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, cancer, and also kidney diseases that have been neglected maybe for the past two years or more.)

“Ngayon lang nila nakikita na parang nagkaka-effect sa kanila yung hindi nila pag-regular check up, so ngayon nagbalikan sila sa mga hospitals kasi nakita nila medyo safe na ang mga hospitals, at yun po ang karamihan sa kanila ay kinakailangan i-admit, bukod sa mataas na cases nating infectious diseases, especially sa pedia right now: trangkaso at dengue at iba pang infectious diseases,” he added.

(They are seeing how not having their regular check-up is affecting them, so they go back to hospitals now that it is safer. So those are many of the cases that are admitted, as well as high cases of infectious diseases, especially dengue and flu and other infectious diseases among children.)

COVID-19 subvariants

De Grano also said private hospitals are always ready to admit COVID-19 cases amid the reports of new cases of Omicron subvariants.

“We are prepared to admit these patients. Ang magiging problem lang natin is kung magkaroon talaga tayo ng maraming cases at magkulang ang ating health workers, especially the nurses. 'Yun po ang pwede magkaroon ng limitasyon, kung magkukulang po ang ating nurses. Then that is the only na nafo-foresee po natin na limitation ng mga hospitals,” De Grano said.

(We are prepared to admit these patients. The only problem we have is if we lack healthcare workers especially the nurses, that is the only thing that we foresee that will limit the admission in our hospitals.)

The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said that it has detected 16 new cases of the more transmissible Omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.2.12.1.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that the latest sequencing run yielded six new cases of the BA.5 and 10 new cases of the BA.2.12.1.

Vaccination

De Grano, however, said many of the senior citizens are still hesitant to receive their second booster shot.

Meanwhile, most of the healthcare workers have already been vaccinated for second booster dose.

As of June 13, the DOH said more than 69.8 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Almost 9.5 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 and 3.1 million minors aged 5 to 11 have also been fully inoculated against the virus.

Around 14.6 million individuals have received their first dose, and 580,000 individuals have received their second booster dose. — BM, GMA News