The COVID-19 pandemic presents huge challenges. A newly emerged virus to which the world’s inhabitants has no immunity, coupled with the speedy movement of individuals across the globe, has set the stage for an outbreak of proparts not seen within the final century.
For an infection with this virus to happen, it should come into contact with the eyes, nostril, or mouth. This occurs when droplets produced by an contaminated individual (via speaking, coughing or sneezing), land on the face of one other person. These infectious droplets can travel as much as 6 toes, which is the reason to promote social distancing. Touching a surface that is contaminated with infectious droplets and then touching one’s own eyes, nose or mouth, is another way for infection to occur. Due to this fact, the key to avoiding infection is to have these areas of the face covered.
In hospitals, face masks and goggles are typically used to prevent exposure to infectious droplets. Nonetheless, 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 forced to resort to scarves and bandannas in a last-ditch try to protect themselves while providing care. Even when plentiful, face masks will not be without problems. Once they become wet from the humidity in exhaled air, they lose effectiveness. In addition, some individuals touch their face more usually to adjust the masks, which increases the risk of infection if the palms are contaminated.
Fabric masks, though better than nothing, have been shown to be less protective than medical-grade face masks.
We imagine that face shields provide a better solution. There are numerous types, but all use clear plastic materials attached to a headpiece to cover the eyes, nostril and mouth, thereby stopping infectious droplets from contacting these areas the place the virus can enter the body. They cover more of the face than masks and prevent the wearer from touching their face. Importantly, face shields are durable, can be cleaned after use, reused repeatedly, and for many people are more comfortable than face masks. Because these shields are reusable and are diversified throughout the supply chains of a number of industries, the present supply is less restricted than for face masks. They will even be made at house with objects from office supply and craft stores.
Each health care worker needs a face shield for protection at work. While face masks are nonetheless wanted in some conditions, implementation of face shields will enormously reduce the need for face masks and lengthen the restricted national provide of masks. Engineers have produced designs for face shields which can be 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 as much as meet the demand via present producers and recruitment of additional factories. Because the design is simple, large rapid production wouldn’t be difficult.
As soon as the health care workpressure is equipped, distribution to the general public ought to start, with a goal to provide a face shield to each person within the country. It needs to be worn anytime an individual leaves their residence, while in any public place, and even at work. Though shelter-at-house approaches are wanted to “bend the curve” of this pandemic, the ensuing societal disruption limits the time that political leaders are prepared to sustain such measures. Once every individual is shielded, nonetheless, reducing restrictions on movement would carry less risk. Universal shielding might reduce reliance on social distancing since infectious droplets can not attain the face of susceptible individuals. Handwashing, nonetheless, would stay essential to maintain people from infecting themselves with virus discovered on the palms after touching contaminated surfaces.
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