MANILA – Nanindigan ang Department of Health (DOH) na mahalaga ang pagsusuot ng face mask bilang paraan nang pagiwas sa banta ng COVID-19.
Pahayag ito ng ahensya matapos bawiin ng Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ng Amerika ang report nito at sabihin na posible ang airborne transmission ng coronavirus.
“Amid reports of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, which is the causative agent of COVID-19, being airborne, The Department of Health (DOH) stressed the importance of wearing a mask as part of the prescribed minimum health standards to ensure utmost protection from COVID-19,” ayon sa DOH.
Binalikan ng Health department ang pahayag ni Dr. Edsel Salvana, miyembro ng DOH Technical Advisory Group, na itinuturing nang airborne ang virus sa gitna ng medical procedures sa mga ospital.
“But more definitive studies are necessary to say that this is also the case for non-healthcare settings.”
Paliwanag ng kagawaran, hangga’t wala pang matibay na ebidensya sa mga pag-aaral ng transmission ng SARS-CoV-2, ay dapat na manatili ang pag-iingat ng publiko.
Ito ay sa pamamagitan din ng physical distancing, paghuhugas ng kamay at iba pang minimum health standards.
“According to studies, wearing masks lowers the chance of transmission by up to 85%, while maintaining a physical distance of one meter reduces the risk of transmission by 80%.”
Ayon sa isang published article ng US CDC, sinasabing posible ang airborne transmission ng SARS-CoV-2 sa ilalim ng “special circumstances.”
“There are several well-documented examples in which SARS-CoV-2 appears to have been transmitted over long distances or times. These transmission events appear uncommon and have typically involved the presence of an infectious person producing respiratory droplets for an extended time (>30 minutes to multiple hours) in an enclosed space,” nakasaad sa report.
“Enough virus was present in the space to cause infections in people who were more than 6 feet away or who passed through that space soon after the infectious person had left.”
IBA PANG PAG-AARAL SA COVID-19
Pareho rin ang paalala ng DOH sa publiko pagdating sa resulta ng isa pang pag-aaral ng Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine sa Japan, na nagsabing maaari mabuhay ng siyam na oras ang coronavirus sa balat ng tao kumpara sa Influenza A.
“However, they also stated that both viruses were completely inactivated within 15 seconds by hand sanitizer containing 80% alcohol,” giit ng kagawaran.
Ayon sa Health department, dapat panatilihin ng mga tao ang protocol sa paghuhugas ng kamay, na pwedeng sa pamamagitan ng at least 70% alcohol solution sa loob ng 20-segundo. Pati na ang social distancing, sa loob man ng mga tahanan o sa pampublikong lugar.
May paglilinaw din ang ahensya sa hiwalay na research sa Australia na kumu-kwestyon sa pagiging epektibo ng infrared thermometers, na ginagamit ng halos lahat ng establisyemento na pang-suri ng temperatura ng mga tao.
“First, the study had a relatively few number of study participants. Even fewer were the number of patients who actually had fever, which were only 37 patients. Second, they have excluded patients who were actually infectious,” giit ng DOH.
Nagpaalala ang ahensya sa mga gumagamit ng infrared thermometer na sundin ang panuntunan sa wastong paggamit nito para makakuha ng tamang resulta.
“Periodic maintenance shall also be done to ensure that the device is still functional. Lastly, the person being tested should have a clean and dry forehead.”
