IN THIS time of pandemic, it is not enough for the Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases to direct all local government units (LGUs) to enforce the compulsory and proper use of facemasks. This campaign should be coupled with a ban on the littering especially of soiled disposable masks.
Not a few concerned citizens and groups have sounded the alarm over the reckless disposal of single-use face masks worn to safeguard against and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Such bad practice could worsen the situation. The improper disposal of soiled masks, which contain respiratory droplets of people who wore them, may endanger the health of others who pick them and then touch their own faces.
Failure to halt the littering of disposable face masks and other protective gears could also worsen plastic trash and other pollutants harming the marine ecosystems. Masks like single-use plastics and cigarette butts may be mistaken as food by fish, turtles and birds, blocking their digestive tracts and affecting their growth, reproduction and survival.
The careless disposal of dirty facemasks is very alarming. It is as if some people think we are not living in a state of public health emergency. The IATF and local government authorities should take immediate action to prevent these potentially infectious materials from harming human health and threatening aquatic life.
To draw attention to this pressing problem and the need for citizens’ cooperation, LGUs may enact new ordinances or simply enforce existing ones that prohibit and penalize littering of waste materials in line with the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
LGUs should urgently act to educate and mobilize the public on proper disposal of soiled face masks, gloves, tissues, wipes and other potentially infectious wastes to protect human health, especially the health of waste workers, and to prevent the spillage of such discards into the oceans.
Let us remember that coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces for a number of days. The improper disposal of used masks may cause the further spread of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
So let us not be reckless.
