MAYOR BENG Climaco said the Zamboanga local government is awaiting guidelines from the National Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of Infectious Diseases (NIATF-MEID) whether to ease the mandatory use of face shields in open spaces.
Climaco, head of the local IATF-MEID, asked City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Miravite and the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit to make the necessary studies and immediately come up with recommendations on the possibility of making the face shield non-mandatory in open spaces.
Miravite maintained that the use of face shields should be mandatory inside closed spaces, crowded places and those with close contact with COVID-19 patients such as hospitals and quarantine facilities. “It is okay to ease the face shield requirement in open spaces, but not in closed spaces,” Miravite said.
She said face shields provide a physical barrier to protect the wearer from contracting the virus from others and the environment. Face shields also reduce how frequently a person touches their eyes throughout the day, which also might help reduce the spread of the virus.
The mayor said the decisions of the local government should always be consistent with NIATF-MEID guidelines. The Department of Health said face shields are necessary in protecting the users from getting the virus through the eyes.
According to a report by the “All About Vision”, COVID-19 spreads through the eyes through the conjunctiva, a thin, clear mucous membrane that covers the white portion of the eyeball and the inner surface of the eyelids.
Like the mucous membranes of the nose and mouth, the conjunctiva can be an entry point for coronavirus into the body. Once in the conjunctiva and tear film, COVID-19 can be spread to others by rubbing your eyes and transferring the virus to other objects or directly to people with your fingers.
Also, it may be possible for coronavirus in the eye to spread from your eyes to your nose, throat and lungs. This is because the tears drain from the surface of our eyes into the nose and throat through a small drainage channel called the nasolacrimal duct. From the nose and throat, the coronavirus can be inhaled into the lungs, causing respiratory distress and other symptoms of the disease. (Zamboanga Post)
