Nine out of 10 adult Filipinos concurred on the voluntary wearing of face masks, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in December 2022.
According to the nationwide poll, which was conducted from December 10 to 14,2022, and published on Monday on the SWS web site, 91 percent of adult Filipinos surveyed favored the issuance of Executive Order no. 07, Series of 2022, which allows the voluntary wearing of face mask in indoor and outdoor settings.
Notably, the poll showed over half or 54 percent of the 1,200 Filipino adults who responded to the survey said they will “always use a face mask when leaving the house,” while 22 percent said they will use a face mask “most of the time”; and 15 percent said they will only use a face mask “sometimes” when leaving the house.
In contrast, 9 percent said they will rarely and never wear a face mask when leaving the house.
Meanwhile, the SWS survey revealed that 91 percent of Filipino household heads agree with voluntary wearing of face mask for children in face-to-face (F-to-F) classes.
With the return of F-to-F classes, the social research institution noted four out of five or 81 percent of the households with children attending in-person classes say they will “always” see to it that their child wear a face mask when going to school, while 11 percent said they make their child wear a facemask “most of the time,” and 5 percent said “sometimes.”
In contrast, only barely 4 percent said they rarely and never make their child wear a face mask when going to school.
Last October, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., issued an EO to allow the voluntary wearing of face mask in indoor and outdoor settings.
However, the EO noted that face masks should still be worn in health-care facilities such as clinics, hospitals, laboratories, nursing homes and dialysis clinics; medical transport vehicles such as ambulance and paramedic rescue vehicles; and public transportation by land, air or sea.
Moreover, the EO said mask wearing is still “encouraged” for the elderly, individuals with comorbidities, immunocompromised individuals, pregnant women, unvaccinated individuals and symptomatic individuals.
Image credits: Bernard Testa