Iloilo City Hall readies 200,000 free face masks

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

Around 200,000 face masks will be distributed to city residents once Iloilo City transitions from enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ) by May 16, 2020.

In a press conference on Monday, City Mayor Treñas said the city government aims to mass-produce 200,000 free face masks to serve as protection for residents against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

“As one of our initiatives, we plan to produce 200,000 face masks which we will be distributing to the city residents for free.  Ang importante tanan kita may face masks so that we can protect ourselves from COVID-19,” he said.

The mayor said the face masks are washable and have additional pockets for filters to increase protection.

“Pwede ini siya malabhan kag may bulutangan sang filter pareho sang tissue,” he said.

Treñas said they are still finalizing the guidelines in preparation for the downgrading of the quarantine status of the city to GCQ by May 16.

He said that the wearing of face masks and social distancing will still be the staple safety measures under the more “relaxed” GCQ.

“Even during the GCQ we will still implement the wearing of face masks and ang importante man lang indi malimtan sang mga tawo ang practice sang social distancing,” he added.

The city government is also pushing for additional testing laboratories in preparation for transition to GCQ.

Treñas said two private hospitals in the city – the Medical City Iloilo and Metro Iloilo Hospital – expressed their willingness to seek accreditation as testing centers.

“Ang duha naton ka private hospitals ready na magpa-accredit. Kita ginatinguhaan ta man mag-come up one additional laboratory. Our plan is to really come up with five testing centers composed of Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC), West Visayas State University Medical Center (WVSUMC), two private hospitals, and one laboratory courtesy of the city government,” he said.

Following the recommendation of the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), the mayor issued Executive Order (EO) No. 68 extending the ECQ in Iloilo City from May 1 until May 15.