The COVID-19 pandemic presents enormous challenges. A newly emerged virus to which the world’s inhabitants has no immunity, coupled with the speedy movement of individuals throughout the globe, has set the stage for an outbreak of proportions not seen within the final century.
For infection with this virus to occur, it must come into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. This occurs when droplets produced by an infected individual (via speaking, coughing or sneezing), land on the face of one other person. These infectious droplets can journey up to 6 feet, which is the reason to promote social distancing. Touching a surface that’s contaminated with infectious droplets and then touching one’s own eyes, nose or mouth, is one other way for infection to occur. Therefore, the important thing to avoiding an infection is to have these areas of the face covered.
In hospitals, face masks and goggles are typically used to stop exposure to infectious droplets. However, face masks shortages are occurring because of interruptions in the supply chain, which is deeply rooted in China and disrupted by the pandemic. Some health care workers have been pressured to resort to scarves and bandannas in a final-ditch try to protect themselves while providing care. Even when plentiful, face masks usually are not without problems. Once they grow to be wet from the humidity in exhaled air, they lose effectiveness. In addition, some individuals contact their face more often to adjust the mask, which increases the risk of an infection if the arms are contaminated.
Material masks, although better than nothing, have been shown to be less protective than medical-grade face masks.
We believe that face shields provide a better solution. There are many types, however all use clear plastic materials attached to a headpiece to cover the eyes, nostril and mouth, thereby preventing infectious droplets from contacting these areas the place the virus can enter the body. They cover more of the face than masks and stop the wearer from touching their face. Importantly, face shields are durable, could be cleaned after use, reused repeatedly, and for many individuals are more comfortable than face masks. Because these shields are reusable and are diversified across the availability chains of a number of industries, the current provide is less restricted than for face masks. They will even be made at home with objects from office supply and craft stores.
Each health care worker wants a face shield for protection at work. While face masks are still needed in some situations, implementation of face shields will significantly reduce the necessity for face masks and lengthen the limited nationwide supply of masks. Engineers have produced designs for face shields which are in the public domain, and fabrication at scale is relatively simple. To make sure that every health care worker has a face shield, production will need to ramp up to meet the demand through present manufacturers and recruitment of additional factories. Because the design is easy, massive rapid production wouldn’t be difficult.
As soon as the health care workpressure is provided, distribution to the general public ought to begin, with a goal to provide a face shield to each person in the country. It ought to be worn anytime an individual leaves their house, while in any public place, and even at work. Though shelter-at-home approaches are needed to “bend the curve” of this pandemic, the following societal disruption limits the time that political leaders are prepared to maintain such measures. Once each individual is shielded, however, reducing restrictions on movement would carry less risk. Universal shielding could reduce reliance on social distancing since infectious droplets can not reach the face of susceptible individuals. Handwashing, nonetheless, would stay essential to keep people from infecting themselves with virus discovered on the hands after touching contaminated surfaces.