Excerpts: “Could a simple and affordable face shield, if universally adopted, provide enough added protection when added to testing, contact tracing, and hand hygiene to reduce transmissibility below a critical threshold?”
“Simple and easy-to-use barriers to respiratory droplets, along with hand hygiene and avoidance of touching the face, could help prevent community transmission when physical distancing and stay-at-home measures are relaxed or no longer possible. The 2 major options for such barriers are face masks and face shields.”
“Cloth masks have been shown to be less effective than medical masks for prevention of communicable respiratory illnesses, although in vitro testing suggests that cloth masks provide some filtration of virus-sized aerosol particles. Face shields may provide a better option.”
“Face shields offer a number of advantages. While medical masks have limited durability and little potential for reprocessing, face shields can be reused indefinitely and are easily cleaned with soap and water, or common household disinfectants. They are comfortable to wear, protect the portals of viral entry, and reduce the potential for autoinoculation by preventing the wearer from touching their face. People wearing medical masks often have to remove them to communicate with others around them; this is not necessary with face shields. The use of a face shield is also a reminder to maintain social distancing, but allows visibility of facial expressions and lip movements for speech perception.”
“Face shields appear to significantly reduce the amount of inhalation exposure to influenza virus, another droplet-spread respiratory virus. In a simulation study, face shields were shown to reduce immediate viral exposure by 96% when worn by a simulated health care worker within 18 inches of a cough. Even after 30 minutes, the protective effect exceeded 80% and face shields blocked 68% of small particle aerosols, which are not thought to be a dominant mode of transmission of SARS-CoV-2. When the study was repeated at the currently recommended physical distancing distance of 6 feet, face shields reduced inhaled virus by 92%, similar to distancing alone, which reinforces the importance of physical distancing in preventing viral respiratory infections. Of note, no studies have evaluated the effects or potential benefits of face shields on source control, ie, containing a sneeze or cough, when worn by asymptomatic or symptomatic infected persons. However, with efficacy ranges of 68% to 96% for a single face shield, it is likely that adding source control would only improve efficacy, and studies should be completed quickly to evaluate this.”
“Face shields, which can be quickly and affordably produced and distributed, should be included as part of strategies to safely and significantly reduce transmission in the community setting. Now is the time for adoption of this practical intervention.”
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Citation: Perencevich EN, Diekema DJ, Edmond MB. Moving Personal Protective Equipment Into the Community: Face Shields and Containment of COVID-19. JAMA. Published online April 29, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.7477
Link to full article: https://nyti.ms/3gcXXoJ
You’re Getting Used to Masks. Will You Wear a Face Shield?
May 24, 2020
Dr. Perencevich believes that face shields should be the preferred personal protective equipment of everyone for the same reason health care workers use them. They protect the entire face, including the eyes, and prevent people from touching their faces or inadvertently exposing themselves to the coronavirus.
Face shields may be easier to wear than masks, he said, comparing them with wearing glasses or a hat. They wrap around a small portion of a person’s forehead rather than covering more than half their face with material that can create the urge to itch.
Many people also wear masks incorrectly, letting them dangle off the tips of their noses, or concealing just their mouths. People also tend to readjust face masks frequently, or remove them to communicate with others, which increases their risk of being exposed or infecting others, he said. And while cloth masks can prevent people from spreading germs to others, they don’t usually protect the wearer from infection.
One cough simulation study in 2014 suggested that a shield could reduce a user’s viral exposure by 96 percent when worn within 18 inches of someone who was coughing. But most people in the general public are much farther away from others they are interacting with, said William Lindsley, a bioengineer at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health who led the study. Large droplets that may contain virus will fall to the ground quickly, reducing the need for a face shield worn when standing farther away.
Dr. Perencevich and his colleagues expect that more research will show shields to be superior to cloth masks, not only because shields provide full face protection but as they are nearly impossible to wear incorrectly.
“Remember, effectiveness depends not only on the inherent properties of the facial covering but also how well the facial covering is worn,” he said.
And he and his co-authors like to imagine that people who are reluctant to wear masks will find face shields more comfortable: Once a person tries one on, they say, the wearer realizes its many benefits.
Conclusion: The possible risks to health care workers from exposure to cough-generated aerosols during routine patient care are not well characterized. Although it is agreed that workers need respiratory protection while treating patients with certain diseases that are known to be transmitted by airborne particles, the utility of protective devices such as face shields under these conditions is less clear. Our results show that considerable exposures of workers to potentially infectious material can occur over very short time frames when they examine or treat a coughing patient at close range. The use of face shields can substantially reduce the short-term exposure of health care workers to larger infectious aerosol particles and can reduce contamination of their respirators. They are less effective against smaller particles, which can remain airborne for extended periods and can easily flow around a face shield to be inhaled. Thus, face shields can provide a useful adjunct to respiratory protection for workers caring for patients with respiratory infections. However, they cannot be used as a substitute for respiratory protection when it is needed.
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