MANILA – The Department of Health (DOH) has discouraged activities where a spray of saliva may happen during the holiday season to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“High risk activities and settings are where there can be ‘talsik laway’ such as singing and shouting. There was this evidence which has provided us of how much viral particles emitted when a person sings or shouts,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a press conference on Thursday.
She added that shared or communal eating can also be a high-risk setting for saliva spray.
“Filipinos have the practice of having salo-salo during this Christmas season or New Year celebration so we should try to prevent this kind of things from happening,” Vergeire said.
The DOH official also stressed the risk of being directly across the table from another person and the lack of barriers as well as face covers.
Health chief Francisco Duque III earlier discouraged the use of “totorot” or the traditional yuletide revelry horn and whistles as noisemakers for the holidays.
Duque said Filipinos should instead look for alternative materials such as drums, tambourines and cooking pots that will not require them to take off their face masks./PN
