Face shields make a difference

By Leonardo Micua

 

IF it’s true that the Philippines is about to flatten the curve in its war against the coronavirus pandemic based on data being collated by the Department of Health, then we are seeing signs in the horizon of a Merry Christmas this year.

Bolstered by current data, that lesser number of new confirmed cases and deaths are being recorded daily in all hospitals in the country, particularly in Metro Manila, the UP-Octa Research believe that the coronavirus already reached the crossroad and is slowly on the way down. (Except perhaps in Pangasinan, which just recorded four deaths in just a matter of a week and fresh 43 cases to hike the number of its active cases to 92 as of September 3).

Perhaps the wearing of face shields has been a factor for the downtrend of COVID-19 statistics. This could be one of the reasons why the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases has made the wearing of the face shield as a part of the guidelines.

Indeed, since a face shield was made to compliment the wearing of a face mask before boarding public transportation or entering enclosed places, including malls, the number of people being detected with COVID-19 infection has dramatically nose-dived.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Anna de Guzman told the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) that face shields and face masks—when worn out properly—can give 95 percent protection from COVID-19.

She shared that view during a virtual session of the SP three Mondays ago when she was asked to comment on an ordinance proposed by First District Board Member Margielou Orange Verzosa seeking the mandatory wearing of face shields, in addition to face masks, when entering any office of the Provincial Capitol.

The Dagupan SP finally passed its own version of the Face Shield Ordinance during its regular session on September 1, on motion of Councilor Dennis Canto, chairman on the committee on public health, imposing stiff fines only on owners of establishments that allowed the entry of persons without the face shields (and masks).

But to my mind, the reason why COVID-19 is now going down after reaching its plateau for some time is because most Filipinos, except for the stubborn ones who do not care whatever happens, have now finally internalized the value of health protection and became more health conscious.

Many are now in fact adapting to the new norm set by the authorities. Residents not only wear face shields and masks but have a hand sanitizer always in their bags.

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While the people are pre-occupied fighting COVID-19, a shadowy group appears to be moving in the dark, pushing for a revolutionary government (RevGov) to supplant the present constitutional government in a bid to institute faster reforms and make federalism happen without firing a shot. 

Though Malacanang distanced itself from this movement, the group appears to be campaigning for support from the people as well as the military and the police.  

Methinks a RevGov is not a panacea or cure to all our many-faceted problems. Neither can we get past from the COVID-19 if we shift to RevGov and dismantle all the democratic institutions helping us get out of the abyss of the pandemic. We would be reduced to a banana republic to the scorn of the rest of the world if we allow a junta to rule our nation.

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Some people I talked to said that no amount of cosmetic projects, like painting of the sidewalks and electric posts and soon the installation of Christmas lights on both bridges leading to downtown Dagupan could not hide the fact that the Brian Lim administration did not do anything that mattered to the lives of Dagupenos.

In his virtual State of the City Address, he said “We should not fall into a trap of executing useless projects simply for the sake of propaganda”. But why did he allow the painting of the electric posts and the sidewalks as well as installed expensive Christmas lights on Quintos and Magsaysay bridges, which we think did not touch the lives of the ordinary Dagupenos struggling daily to make both ends meet?

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