Wearing of face shields in areas under Alert Level 3 and those with lower classifications are now voluntary.
This after Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea issued a new memorandum last Monday executing the recommended protocols of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) for wearing of face shields.
He, however, stressed that wearing of face shields in medical and quarantine facilities in areas under Alert Level 1 to 3 will be required as a precautionary measure.
Under the said issuance, wearing of face shield will only be mandatory community settings in areas under Alert Level 5, which is the strictest classification.
In the case of Alert Level 4 areas, local government units (LGU) and private establishments are given the discretion to mandate the use of face shields.
For areas, which will still not be immediately covered by the phased implementation of the Alert Level System (ALS) and are still implementing the community quarantine classification system, Medialdea said LGUs will have the discretion to mandate the use of face shields.
The rising number of fully vaccinated individuals as well as the declining novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) prompted some government officials to limit the use of face shields to hospitals and public utility vehicles.