Along with the masks many people are also opting for face shields to protect themselves from the coronavirus. While wearing a face shield along with a face mask is great, you are advised to not just wear face shields as a method to protect yourself from COVID-19 and they fail to help you and the virus can easily get past them. Recent research shows that face shields may not be protecting us from COVID-19 as much as we thought it did. The plastic face shields that usually have a band to tie across the forehead and it works like the bike helmet shield to cover our faces do not actually provide you with much help and one can be infected by coronavirus despite wearing them. Coronavirus Prevention: Can Your Smartphone Infect You With COVID-19? Right Way to Clean Your Mobile Phone to Prevent the Spread of the Deadly Disease. 

Researchers used computers to model the movement of air from a sneeze and found that the particles hit a face mask from 3ft away in less than one second which means that the Vortex rings carry the particles to the face shield edge and into the mouth so if a person is breathing in they can easily inhale infected particles or droplets that may cause coronavirus to the person wearing the shield. In the computer models, they visualised the spread of droplets around a face shield from a human sneeze from 3ft (1m) away.

The 'vortex rings' produced by the sneeze carry infectious particles to the face and a shield fails to provide sufficient protection as it happens in less than a second. Another research published in July found that face shields DON'T protect against COVID-19 either, how when compared to masks, face shields. However, masks are a great way to stay protected.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to make face masks one of its primary recommendations for preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, people still opt for plastic face shields for protection as they can be more comfortable. It is advised that you must use plastic face shields only be used as a supplement to cloth face coverings, not in lieu of them.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 09, 2020 09:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).