Mayor keen on ditching face shield policy but…

By Joseph B.A. Marzan and Jennifer P. Rendon 

“As is lang kita.”

This was Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas’s reply to Daily Guardian Tuesday via Viber when asked if he will postpone his move to stop the mandatory use of face shields in public places to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Treñas inferred that he stands pat on his desire to get rid of the mandatory wearing of face shield citing lack of scientific basis.

But he will let the City Council decide on the matter since the face shield policy is enforced through an ordinance.

The Sangguniang Panglungsod on Tuesday deferred Treñas’s request to suspend the mandatory use of face shields.

Last week, Treñas announced that Iloilo City will no longer implement the requirement on the face shield “considering that the Philippines is the only country in the world requiring it and in our city, cases are low and vaccinations are high.”

“Considering that there is an existing ordinance on the same, I requested the City Council to suspend the provisions on the requirement on face shields. As city mayor, I will await the results of the same,” he said.

Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-061, amended by R.O. No. 2020-095, stated that “the non-wearing of face shields/eye protectors in public places such as malls, churches, markets, offices, banks, public transport vehicles, and stations, stores, commercial establishments, and other areas where there are three or more people are gathered within close proximity of one another is hereby prohibited.”

The council unanimously agreed to refer Treñas’ letter to the Committee on Health “for study, report and recommendation”.

Councilor Ely Estante Jr., proponent of the Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-061 as amended, also known as the “face mask and face shield ordinance”, cited the national government’s recent pronouncements to local leaders to keep face shields for the meantime.

Estante specifically mentioned the statements made in recent days by Department of Health (DOH) spokesperson Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr.

“We will give chance to the national government to make the proper guidelines on the uniform implementation of the removal of face shields especially in public places,” said Estante.

“It is up to the Committee on Health to have a review on this, so if ever there are updated recommendations coming from the DOH on the suspension of face masks, so be it. It would be better to refer this to the committee,” he added.

Committee on Health chairperson Councilor Alan Zaldivar said he already met with experts after the mayor submitted the letter to the city council.

Zaldivar remarked that the lack of national government guidance on the removal of face shields would pose a “big challenge” on the committee’s part due to possible conflicts that may arise between national and local levels.

He said that they will “make it fast” to amend the ordinance quickly.

“We are going to revisit again some sections, like for example, modification of the face shield and eye protector, and guidelines where to use and not to use the face shields, and sections on the penalty clause since this will not be mandatory. We are very positive and we respect the wisdom of Mayor Jerry Treñas on why he is pushing for this, considering we are reaching herd immunity [against COVID-19],” Zaldivar said.

Councilor Candice Tupas, who is a doctor by profession, suggested limiting the usage of face shields for medical frontliners in healthcare facilities, as well as in mass gatherings where surgical-type face masks may not be used properly or all the time.

Tupas cited the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation for use in hospitals to avoid exposure to droplets and aerosols from patients, especially those being intubated and extubated.

“[The WHO recommendation] just says that in other countries, the face shields were used as an adjunct, ancillary, and extra protection but primarily the hospital face mask must be used. If you are wearing a cloth-based face mask, then that is the time that you are supposed to wear a face shield that should cover their chin. But in a hospital setting, a full face shield or goggles is required in order for you to be protected from fluids or aerosols brought about by intubation, extubation, and so like that. We’ve seen that face shields are difficult to use as they [affect vision]. For me, let’s just implement it in a hospital setting,” Tupas suggested.

In recommending the scrapping of face shields, Treñas cited that there are studies showing that it is “not proven effective to block cough aerosols as compared to masks.”

He cited a study made by Lindsey, Blachere, Law, Beezhold and Noti (2020) wherein they confirmed that “face shields are not effective blockers of cough aerosols, being able to block only 2% of cough aerosols as compared to masks such as the N95 and the medical grade masks, which could block 99% and 59% of cough aerosols, respectively.”

He added that the Iloilo City COVID-19 team recommended the gradual exclusion of the mandatory use of face shields and/or eye protectors in some public areas, as part of the efforts to prudently start to ease the COVID-19 restrictive protocols to welcome the new oral.

RESPONSE TO SPOX

Treñas also responded to Roque’s remarks on Monday reminding mayors to follow national government guidelines on the use of face shields.

In a statement, the mayor chided the palace spokesperson over his “theory” that local government units (LGUs) must follow national pronouncements.

He added that LGUs have autonomy under Rep. Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 as amended, and that while LGUs have been following the DOH over health protocols, use of face shields are not backed by scientific evidence.

“As a local chief executive, the Local Government Code provides that local governments have local autonomy. Under a pandemic, the LGUs all comply with all health standards, but the matter of the face shield is not backed by medical or scientific studies,” the mayor said in his statement.

He also called on Roque to act on the city government’s appeal to lower Iloilo City’s alert level status.

“Under the DOH reports, we are ranked the last in terms of alert levels. We are most urgently requesting Harry Roque to please make up the appeal of Iloilo City so that we will also slowly recover from this pandemic. I wish Harry Roque a good day,” the mayor said.