What will 'new normal' look like? Full capacity at venues but face masks stay on
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will not rush into the "new normal" — where there will be no restrictions on venue capacity but policies like wearing face masks will remain — the Department of Health said Thursday after doctors cautioned the government against easing pandemic restrictions too soon.
The country will enter the new normal once Alert Level 1—the lowest in the government’s five-tier alert system—is declared.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while it is understandable that doctors are worried about more COVID-19 infections, the public will "have to move on and live with the virus."
"We’re not going to open up our sectors drastically without having to do anything as to safety nets or safeguards. But we need to be able to slowly transition into this new normal," she said.
Metro Manila and other areas in the country will be under Alert Level 2 until end-February.
"There will be no restrictions anymore" once the country transitions to the new normal, Vergeire said, adding the capacity limits for indoor and outdoor establishments will be removed.
"What will be retained will be the minimum public health standards that will be practiced by all individuals," the health official said.
"There should be a shift in resources and efforts to enforcing all these protocols because we will be opening. If we’re not going to comply with the protocols for safety, then again we’re going to have another increase in cases."
Mask mandate
Vergeire also said that the face mask mandate will be the "last to go" among the interventions put in place to curb a pandemic that has dragged into its third year.
"I think by the end of the year, hopefully, if cases will be manageable already and we reach that endemic state that we’re hoping for, maybe masks will go. But it will be the last to go," she said.
"One of the things we're relying on as we shift to new normal, meaning easing of resticrtions, would be people imbibing that culture, that practice that masks will be part of our daily lives. Vaccination is there and also safety protocols that we implement."
Latest data showed that over 61 million people have completed vaccination against COVID-19 in the country.
The Philippines has reported 3.6 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started, with 55,000 deaths. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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