MANILA, Philippines — A day before full face-to-face classes resume in public schools, the Department of Education announced that students are free to choose whether they will use face masks on campus — even indoors.
DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa made this announcement on Tuesday, saying that this is in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order No. 7 scrapping the mask mandate.
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The October 28 order made the use of face masks optional outdoors and indoors except for healthcare facilities, medical transport vehicles and public transportation.
While masking was made optional, the order still “encouraged” the elderly, individuals with comorbidities, immunocompromised individuals, pregnant women, unvaccinated individuals and symptomatic individuals to continue wearing masks.
“A policy of voluntary wearing of face masks in both indoor and outdoor settings is a positive step towards normalization, and a welcome development that would encourage activities and boost efforts toward the full reopening of the economy,” Marcos said in the order.
But the threat of a new COVID-19 spike in the country still lingers despite efforts to roll back restrictions, with the Department of Health warning that optional indoor masking could result in up to 18,000 new infections per day by the end of the year.
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The position of the DOH has always been to continue wearing masks to protect people from getting COVID-19. In September, the agency warned it was not yet time to ease mask wearing outdoors, but was overruled by the IATF and by the executive order of Marcos. — Xave Gregorio