MANILA -- Taytay, known as the “garments capital of the Philippines” has taken an economic hit amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.
Once crowded by local and tourist shoppers, the famous Taytay Tiangge, which spans for over 5,000 square meters, is a ghost town after it was shut down.
“We closed the tiangge to implement the social distancing policy,” Mark Jay Valdez, Taytay municipal public information office chief, said.
“Unang-una na naapektuhan ang mga dressmakers, manufacturers, and mananahi namin. Nawalan sila ng trabaho at puhunan,” he added.
To help ease the financial blow on the town’s dressmakers, the local government asked them to produce washable face masks in lieu of the usual garments they manufacture.
“The municipality reached out to them, para may kita sila kahit papano, during the community quarantine,” Valdez said.
According to Valdez, each face mask is sold for P8.
On top of providing temporary jobs, according to Valdez, the initiative also mitigates the insatiable demand for face masks, which, like elsewhere in the country, is sold out in every pharmacy.
“We gave our residents masks, along with other essentials. We have also started providing masks in other neighboring communities. We have also begun supplying washable masks in some Metro Manila hospitals,” he added.
As of this writing, the LGU has distributed at least 52,000 masks.
Dr. Edsel Salvana, director of the National Institutes of Health’s Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, however, warned that cloth masks do not offer the same protection as surgical masks as they lack the filters found in surgical masks.
“Ang cloth mask hindi gumagana dahil walang filter. Akala niyo protektado kayo, hindi pala,” Salvana said in a press conference.
Valdez, however, explained that the Taytay garment manufacturers insert sterile tissue papers as a “disposable lining in between the cloth to make it effective.”
“Meron siyang sterile tissue or wet wipes na tuyo. Napapalitan 'yung sterile tissue, and nalalabhan 'yung mask mismo,” he added.
In a Facebook post that went viral, Dr. Chen Xiaoting, a Taiwanese anesthesiologist, advocated the use of cloth masks (and making one), as long as they are used correctly and washed often.
According to Xiaoting, cloth masks must be structured similarly to the the three-layer structure of surgical mask which consists of a waterproof non-woven layer, a microfiber non-woven fabric in the middle, and another layer of ordinary non-woven fabric at the back to be effective.
The Taiwanese doctor used wet tissues that have been dried and inserted it into a specially-made slot in his cloth mask. He also noted that the wet tissues should always be new and should never be reused.
Xiaoting stressed that this type of a mask is merely to “prevent someone else's saliva from touching your own.”
Similarly, in Thailand, the shortage of surgical masks prompted health authorities to encouraged their citizens to use — and make their own cloth masks — in lieu of surgical masks and respirators.
In a public health ministry video, Panpimon Wipulakorn, director-general for Thailand’s Department of Health, demonstrated how to make cloth masks at home, and encouraged citizens to follow as well.
While masks may provide a sense of comfort, the World Health Organization (WHO), however, reminded citizens that frequent washing of hands with soap is a more effective way to avoid contracting the virus.
"Just because you wear a mask, you should not neglect keeping your hands clean. Because if you touch the mask and you have droplets on the outer surface of the mask that somebody else cough on, you could still get infected,” WHO Philippines representative Rabindra Abeyasinghe said during a Senate hearing.
WHO also reiterated the importance of keeping a distance of at least 1 meter (or 3 feet), especially from those exhibiting symptoms.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
