The COVID-19 pandemic presents monumental challenges. A newly emerged virus to which the world’s inhabitants has no immunity, coupled with the rapid 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 infected person (via speaking, coughing or sneezing), land on the face of one other person. These infectious droplets can journey as much as 6 ft, 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. 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 forestall exposure to infectious droplets. Nevertheless, 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 not with out problems. As soon as they turn out to be wet from the humidity in exhaled air, they lose effectiveness. In addition, some individuals contact their face more usually to adjust the mask, which will increase the risk of infection if the fingers are contaminated.

Cloth masks, although better than nothing, have been shown to be less protective than medical-grade face masks.

We believe that face shields provide a better solution. There are various types, but all use clear plastic materials connected to a headpiece to cover the eyes, nose 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 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 provide is less limited than for face masks. They'll even be made at dwelling with gadgets from office supply and craft stores.

Every health care worker wants a face shield for protection at work. While face masks are nonetheless wanted in some conditions, implementation of face shields will tremendously reduce the need 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 via current manufacturers and recruitment of additional factories. Because the design is straightforward, large rapid 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 individual in the country. It ought to be worn anytime a person leaves their home, while in any public place, and even at work. Though shelter-at-house approaches are needed to "bend the curve" of this pandemic, the ensuing societal disruption limits the time that political leaders are willing to maintain such measures. As soon as every person is shielded, nonetheless, reducing restrictions on movement would carry less risk. Common shielding could reduce reliance on social distancing since infectious droplets cannot attain the face of susceptible individuals. Handwashing, however, would stay essential to keep people from infecting themselves with virus discovered on the palms after touching contaminated surfaces.