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DOH LETTING DEPED DECIDE

Optional masking in class raises

infection fears
By: Jane Bautista, Kathleen de Villa - @inquirerdotnet Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:42 AM November 03, 2022

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The Department of Health (DOH) distanced itself from the policy set by the
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voluntary inside classrooms.

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11/5/22, 6:47 PM Optional masking in class raises infection fears | Inquirer News

Nov 5, 2022
“Should they pursue this, the optional use of face masks in schools is aligned
by Taboola
with the Office of the President’s Executive Order No. 3 and 7 which allows
the optional use of face masks both indoors and outdoors for certain health
settings,” the DOH added.

DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa told reporters on Tuesday that the agency
would issue an amendatory department order to formalize the new policy.

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Manila holding five-day face-to-face sessions per week.

“We are still waiting for feedback from our regional directors so that we can
address any challenges they might have encountered,” he said.

The DOH stressed the need for “proper assessment of when to wear or not
wear masks” to ensure a stronger wall of immunity and prevent further
virus transmission, especially in crowded settings such as classrooms.

It said students and school personnel should take note of other “layers of
protection,” such as sanitation, physical distancing, vaccination, and good
ventilation.

On Oct. 28, the President issued EO No. 7 ahead of the mass gatherings in
the long weekend and the return of public school classes despite misgivings
from health experts. This follows EO No. 3 issued on Sept. 28 that first
allowed the voluntary wearing of masks outdoors.

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Vaccination
The DOH has yet to respond to queries on whether DepEd’s move would
merit a recommendation to give the first booster shot to children aged 5 to
11 years old.

DOH data as of Oct. 24 showed that less than half of the target population in
that age group — or only 5.2 million — had been fully vaccinated. Only 11.5
percent of the eligible teens aged 12 to 17 have received their first booster
dose.

Questioning the new DepEd policy, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers said
face masks would still be the students’ last line of defense since most
classrooms in public schools remain overcrowded and poorly ventilated,
and lacking in-house nurses and functional clinics.

“It is very irresponsible for the government to leave our schools in such a
state, and even more thoughtless to strip our students and teachers of the
last protection that we have, however insufficient it is,” the teachers’ group
said.

Benjo Basas, national chair of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition, echoed the same
sentiment, saying that the situation in schools is different from other indoor

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11/5/22, 6:47 PM Optional masking in class raises infection fears | Inquirer News
environments because of the congested and not well-ventilated classrooms.
Nov 5, 2022

“Personally, I would advise my students to still wear their face masks since
that is their only protection. There are no available water and sanitation
facilities, impossible physical distancing so they should just wear their
masks inside the room,” he said.

Case count
According to the DOH data tracker, the country logged on Tuesday its lowest
daily of Covid-19 case tally in more than four months, with 676 new
infections recorded.

The number was the lowest since June 28, when there were 576 single-day
infections recorded nationwide. Active infections, or the number of people
currently ill with COVID-19, fell below the 20,000 mark after more than
three months.

Total cases in the country were pegged at 4,005,157, while the death toll
reached 64,109.

However, Dr. Tony Leachon, a former public health adviser to the

government, said that the declining numbers may be due to
“underreporting” since the results of rapid antigen tests were not included
in the official tally.

Leachon said infections may jump to as much as 10,000 by the middle of

this month or next month.

The DOH said it was expecting a much higher number of cases — up to

18,000 — if the public would become complacent and ignore minimum
health protocols.

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TAGS: COVID-19 optional mask police, COVID-19 pandemic, Department of

Education, in-person classes, school year 2022-23

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