The COVID-19 pandemic presents huge challenges. A newly emerged virus to which the world’s population has no immunity, coupled with the rapid movement of individuals across the globe, has set the stage for an outbreak of proportions not seen in the last century.
For an infection with this virus to occur, it must come into contact with the eyes, nostril, or mouth. This happens when droplets produced by an contaminated particular person (by way of talking, coughing or sneezing), land on the face of another person. These infectious droplets can journey up to 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 one other way for infection to occur. Therefore, the key 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 usually are not with out problems. As soon as they turn into wet from the humidity in exhaled air, they lose effectiveness. In addition, some people contact their face more often to adjust the mask, which will increase the risk of an infection if the hands are contaminated.
Cloth masks, although 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 lots of types, however all use clear plastic material hooked up 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 prevent 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 availability chains of multiple industries, the present provide is less restricted than for face masks. They can even be made at dwelling with gadgets from office provide and craft stores.
Each health care worker needs a face shield for protection at work. While face masks are still wanted in some situations, implementation of face shields will greatly reduce the necessity for face masks and extend the limited nationwide supply of masks. Engineers have produced designs for face shields that are within the public domain, and fabrication at scale is comparatively simple. To make sure that each health care worker has a face shield, production might want to ramp as much as meet the demand by way of present manufacturers and recruitment of additional factories. Because the design is simple, huge speedy production wouldn’t be difficult.
As soon as the health care workdrive is provided, distribution to the general public should begin, with a goal to provide a face shield to each particular person in the country. It must be worn anytime a person leaves their dwelling, while in any public place, and even at work. Though shelter-at-dwelling 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. 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 cannot reach the face of prone individuals. Handwashing, however, would remain essential to keep individuals from infecting themselves with virus found on the arms after touching contaminated surfaces.