August 01, 2022
THURSDAY, July 28, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Clear shields that cover in front of the face have been a fairly frequent sight since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
They're worn with or without a mask on the nose and mouth.
Though these face shields do offer some protection, none of 13 styles studied offered high protection against potentially infectious droplets, according to researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA), in the United Kingdom.
“Face shields have been popular because they don’t hinder breathing, they allow more natural communication than face masks and they provide splash protection,” said Paul Hunter, a COVID expert and professor at UEA’s Norwich Medical School.
“But until now there hasn’t been a great deal of evidence about how protective they really are – particularly taking into account how people use them in the real world, and especially in poorer parts of the world,” Hunter said in a school news release.