The COVID-19 pandemic presents huge challenges. A newly emerged virus to which the world’s population has no immunity, coupled with the speedy movement of people throughout the globe, has set the stage for an outbreak of proparts not seen within the last century.
For infection with this virus to occur, it should come into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. This occurs when droplets produced by an infected individual (through talking, coughing or sneezing), land on the face of one other person. These infectious droplets can travel as much as 6 ft, which is the reason to promote social distancing. Touching a surface that’s contaminated with infectious droplets after which touching one’s own eyes, nostril or mouth, is one other way for an infection to occur. Therefore, the key to avoiding an infection is to have these areas of the face covered.
In hospitals, face masks and goggles are typically used to forestall publicity 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 pressured to resort to scarves and bandannas in a final-ditch try to protect themselves while providing care. Even when plentiful, face masks aren’t with out problems. As soon as they change into wet from the humidity in exhaled air, they lose effectiveness. In addition, some people touch their face more usually to adjust the masks, which increases the risk of an infection if the palms are contaminated.
Cloth masks, though better than nothing, have been shown to be less protective than medical-grade face masks.
We imagine that face shields provide a greater solution. There are numerous types, but all use clear plastic materials hooked up to a headpiece to cover the eyes, nostril and mouth, thereby stopping infectious droplets from contacting these areas where 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, 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 throughout the supply chains of a number of industries, the present supply is less limited than for face masks. They’ll even be made at house with gadgets from office provide and craft stores.
Every health care worker wants a face shield for protection at work. While face masks are still wanted in some conditions, implementation of face shields will greatly reduce the necessity for face masks and extend the limited nationwide provide of masks. Engineers have produced designs for face shields which might be within the public domain, and fabrication at scale is relatively simple. To ensure that every health care worker has a face shield, production will need to ramp up to meet the demand by means of present manufacturers and recruitment of additional factories. Because the design is straightforward, large speedy production would not be difficult.
Once the health care workdrive is provided, distribution to the general public ought to begin, with a goal to provide a face shield to each person within the country. It should be worn anytime a person leaves their residence, while in any public place, and even at work. Although shelter-at-house approaches are wanted 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, however, reducing restrictions on movement would carry less risk. Common shielding could reduce reliance on social distancing since infectious droplets cannot attain the face of vulnerable individuals. Handwashing, nevertheless, would remain essential to maintain people from infecting themselves with virus discovered on the arms after touching contaminated surfaces.
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