To further mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the city government emphasized the need for residents to properly wear masks following the significant drop of new cases in the city.
The city government’s partner OCTA Research Group conducted a survey in different convenience stores in the city to check the compliance of residents when it comes to its mask-wearing ordinance.
The survey which was conducted recently revealed that only 78 percent or 1,572 out of the 2,011 residents who entered the convenience stores during the survey wore their face masks properly.
“Our residents need to be consistently reminded that by wearing their face masks properly, they can protect themselves and others from the virus,” Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
“And this should not simply mean having masks on their face for compliance, it must be properly worn and secured to cover their nose and mouth.”
Belmonte stressed that the consistent observance of health protocols will sustain the city’s gains in lowering the COVID-19 reproduction number.
According to OCTA Research, the City’s reproduction number, which shows how contagious an infectious disease is or the number of people who can get the virus from one infected person, is at 0.70 on Oct. 18 to 24.
It went down to its lowest at 0.67 on Oct. 7 to 13, from 0.80 on Sept. 30 to Oct 6. The ideal reproductive number set by the World Health Organization (WHO) is 0.50.
The city also hit its lowest average daily additional cases at 82 from Oct. 20 to 25 based on data from the Department of Health. It was down from 150 on Oct. 13 to 19.
Based on data from the City Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit (CESU), the city recorded its lowest average daily additional cases at 25 on Oct. 14 to 20, down from 89 on Oct. 7 to 13.
Quezon City is the only city to have its campaign on wearing masks. The “Why I Wear a Mask” campaign was launched last July to underscore the importance of wearing a face mask following the Face Mask ordinance passed by its council.
The mayor also appealed to business establishments to practice all basic health protocols and strictly enforce them in their vicinities. “If our residents do not wear face masks or face shields properly, they should not be allowed to enter business premises because doing so can pose risks to other compliant residents.”
QC Task Force on COVID-19 Head Joseph Juico reiterates the city’s strict enforcement. “We are serious in the implementation of our city ordinance on mask-wearing because this greatly affects the number of cases in the city. If we have more people wearing masks and face shields, we will reduce our new cases significantly.”
The target of the city is to have 95 percent compliance in wearing face masks to further decrease the transmission of the virus.
The city government is regularly conducting surveillance and apprehensions in public places to penalize violators who may be fined from P300 to P1,000.
