The COVID-19 pandemic presents huge challenges. A newly emerged virus to which the world’s population has no immunity, coupled with the fast movement of people across the globe, has set the stage for an outbreak of proparts not seen in the last century.
For an infection with this virus to happen, it must come into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. This happens when droplets produced by an contaminated particular person (through speaking, coughing or sneezing), land on the face of another person. These infectious droplets can travel up to 6 feet, which is the reason to promote social distancing. Touching a surface that is contaminated with infectious droplets after which touching one’s own eyes, nostril or mouth, is one other way for infection to occur. Therefore, the important thing to avoiding infection is to have these areas of the face covered.
In hospitals, face masks and goggles are typically used to forestall exposure to infectious droplets. However, face mask shortages are occurring because of interruptions within the provide 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 are usually not with out problems. As soon as they develop into wet from the humidity in exhaled air, they lose effectiveness. In addition, some individuals touch their face more usually to adjust the mask, which will increase the risk of an infection if the palms are contaminated.
Material masks, though better than nothing, have been shown to be less protective than medical-grade face masks.
We consider that face shields provide a better solution. There are various types, but all use clear plastic material hooked up to a headpiece to cover the eyes, nostril and mouth, thereby preventing infectious droplets from contacting these areas where 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 people are more comfortable than face masks. Because these shields are reusable and are diversified across the availability chains of multiple industries, the current provide is less restricted than for face masks. They can 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 nonetheless needed in some conditions, implementation of face shields will greatly reduce the necessity for face masks and lengthen the limited nationwide provide 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 each health care worker has a face shield, production might want to ramp up to meet the demand through current producers and recruitment of additional factories. Because the design is straightforward, large speedy production wouldn’t be difficult.
Once the health care workpressure is equipped, distribution to the public should begin, with a goal to provide a face shield to every individual within the country. It should be worn anytime an individual leaves their dwelling, while in any public place, and even at work. Although shelter-at-house approaches are wanted to “bend the curve” of this pandemic, the ensuing societal disruption limits the time that political leaders are keen to sustain such measures. Once each particular person is shielded, however, reducing restrictions on movement would carry less risk. Common shielding could reduce reliance on social distancing since infectious droplets can not attain the face of vulnerable individuals. Handwashing, however, would stay essential to keep individuals from infecting themselves with virus found on the hands after touching contaminated surfaces.