Infectious disease expert: We are open to the possibility that COVID-19 cases may rise due to optional masking

Infectious disease expert Dr. Edsel Salvana on Tuesday said that COVID-19 cases may increase again now that wearing face masks is already voluntary in outdoor settings.

Despite this, however, Salvana backed the decision of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to sign an executive order allowing the optional masking in open spaces and non-crowded outdoor areas with good ventilation.

Salvana said that effects of the eased face mask mandate will take about two to four weeks before they could be seen.

With this, he stressed that it is important that the country’s healthcare capacity will not get overwhelmed and the number of severe and critical cases will remain low even if COVID-19 cases in the country do climb up. 

“We're doing this very cautiously, this is not all set in stone. We're going to see kung ano 'yung magiging epekto sa [what are its effects to the] number of cases and if it will remain manageable,” Salvana said in a public briefing.

“But of course, we are open to the possibility talaga na tataas po talaga ang mga kaso, pero we also lean on our vaccination rate na kung tumaas man, ‘yung number of severe cases ay hindi makaka-overburden sa ating healthcare system,” he added.

(We are open to the possibility that the number of cases will really increase, but we also lean on our vaccination rate that if the cases do increase, the number of severe cases will not overburden our healthcare system.)

OCTA Research said Sunday that a slow uptick in COVID-19 infections was observed in the National Capital Region (NCR), as indicated in the increases in its reproduction number and positivity rate.

On Monday, OCTA further reported that Rizal is also seeing a spike in new COVID-19 cases with its growth rate increasing from -15% to 47% in a span of one week. — RSJ, GMA News