DOH OKs use of necklace air purifier

MANILA, Philippines — Unlike the big “smoking” air purifiers, the Department of Health (DOH) does not see any harm in the use air purifier necklaces for protection against coronavirus disease.

“Such devices do not have smoke or mist. I think it is not going to cause harm, and there is nothing wrong with using them,” Heath Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual briefing Wednesday.

The portable air purifier, worn like a necklace by many people including President Duterte, supposedly surrounds the head with clean air by emitting negative ions that push the pollutants away from an individual.

But Vergeire stressed that even a person wearing the necklace purifier should still observe the minimum health protocol as a precaution against COVID and other diseases.

The DOH, however, cautioned the public against use of air purifier and mist machines in their homes.

“These air purifiers and mist machines that I see placed in rooms and emit smoke, do more harm than good,” Vergeire noted, which was why the World Health Organization does not recommend them.

Vergeire said the DOH has already issued a memorandum last April against disinfectant fogging for general infection control as it can cause more harm than good.

“It can cause aerolization of the virus, meaning the virus can stay longer in the air if we use these kinds of technologies of misting and fogging,” she explained.