Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.

PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has provided guidance for the gradual lifting of the mandate for wearing masks outdoors.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has approved the optional use of masks in low-risk areas such as open spaces during its meeting on Tuesday.

In a media briefing on Friday, Health Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the Department of Health (DoH) explained to Marcos the recommendations of the IATF and other sectors to lift the mask mandate.

"He also gave his guidance...so there was this discussion where we crafted the President's executive order," Vergeire said.

She said that the directive will be implemented as soon as the Office of the President issues the Executive Order for it.

Vergeire said that while Covid continues to evolve, everyone should "learn" how to better understand and learn how to be protected from it.

She also urged the public to do their own personal risk assessment before adopting optional masking.

"If you are not old and do not have any comorbidity, and based on your risk assessment, you can remove your mask.... You should learn how to assess your risk," Vergeire said.

She urged parents to maintain masking among their children attending face-to-face classes.

Vergeire said the Philippines is not copying the lifting of mask mandates in other countries but is drawing from their experience in order to better implement the mandate.

She believes that the lifting of the mandate could also encourage more people to get their first booster dose.

"Even with this compromise [of doing this mandate] in low-risk settings and low-risk individuals, we can still safeguard our population, and we hope this can encourage our people to get vaccinated," Vergeire said.

On Friday, the President said he is studying the IATF recommendation on the optional wearing of face masks outdoors.

"Today I met with the officials of the Department of Health and Department of Interior and Local Government to know our country's situation regarding the fight against Covid-19," he said in a post on his official social media accounts.

He said he was "happy to know that the number of those testing positive is going down because of our ramped up vaccination efforts. In relation to this, I am now studying the recommendation of the IATF regarding the optional wearing of face masks."

DoH Officer in Charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire has said the President had "verbally" approved the plan to phase in optional mask wearing.

The issue over relaxing the mask protocol surfaced anew last week after Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama announced that the city will no longer require the wearing of masks in open spaces.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos brought the issue before the IATF, and the task force backed the Cebu City decision.

Press Secretary Rose Beatrix "Trixie" Cruz-Angeles said the relaxing of the mask mandate was "being taken seriously" by the President, in part because it is expected to revive tourism, which is "front and center in efforts to revive the economy."

On Friday, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco lauded the IATF decision to recommend to the President the optional use of masks in open locations or unpopulated outdoor areas with proper ventilation.

Frasco, who is also a member of the IATF, said that "with the recent improvement in the global tourism landscape as a result of immunization, countries around the world have been instituting various measures such as the reopening of international borders and relaxation of health and safety protocols and requirements."

Making masking optional outdoors "will result in an immediate positive economic impact on these countries and a faster recovery of their respective portfolios," Frasco said.

She said that based on a comparison of mask regulations, Covid-19 incidence, and tourist arrivals in the top five Asean nations, which are Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, liberal mask regulations did not seem to be associated with an increase in Covid cases.

Because its neighbors have relaxed their mask mandates, the Philippines "is immediately at a grave disadvantage as a tourist destination."

Frasco said Cebu has managed to keep the rise in Covid cases at moderate levels after it lifted mask-wearing rules.