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 final century.
For infection with this virus to occur, it must come into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. This happens when droplets produced by an infected individual (via speaking, coughing or sneezing), land on the face of another person. These infectious droplets can travel as much as 6 feet, which is the reason to promote social distancing. Touching a surface that is contaminated with infectious droplets and then touching one’s own eyes, nostril or mouth, is one other way for an 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 prevent publicity to infectious droplets. Nevertheless, face mask 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. As soon as they turn into wet from the humidity in exhaled air, they lose effectiveness. In addition, some people touch their face more usually to adjust the mask, which will increase the risk of infection if the hands 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 greater solution. There are many types, but all use clear plastic materials connected to a headpiece to cover the eyes, nose 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 forestall the wearer from touching their face. Importantly, face shields are durable, can be cleaned after use, reused repeatedly, and for many individuals are more comfortable than face masks. Because these shields are reusable and are diversified throughout the supply chains of multiple industries, the current provide is less restricted than for face masks. They’ll even be made at dwelling with items from office provide and craft stores.
Every health care worker needs a face shield for protection at work. While face masks are nonetheless needed in some conditions, implementation of face shields will vastly reduce the need for face masks and extend the restricted national supply of masks. Engineers have produced designs for face shields which can be in the public domain, and fabrication at scale is comparatively simple. To make sure that each health care worker has a face shield, production will need to ramp up to meet the demand via present manufacturers and recruitment of additional factories. Because the design is simple, massive fast production wouldn’t be difficult.
As soon as the health care workforce is supplied, distribution to the general public ought to begin, with a goal to provide a face shield to each particular person in the country. It should be worn anytime a person leaves their house, while in any public place, and even at work. Although shelter-at-residence approaches are needed to “bend the curve” of this pandemic, the following societal disruption limits the time that political leaders are keen to maintain such measures. As soon as every particular person is shielded, nonetheless, reducing restrictions on movement would carry less risk. Universal shielding might reduce reliance on social distancing since infectious droplets can not reach the face of vulnerable individuals. Handwashing, however, would remain essential to keep individuals from infecting themselves with virus found on the palms after touching contaminated surfaces.