A new study has found that face shields and face masks with exhalation valves offer less protection against COVID-19 and may put one's health at risk.

Face Shield
Reutersconnect

More people today are wearing face shields and face masks with exhalation valves to protect themselves against the infectious and deadly COVID-19.

However, a new study found that wearing these protective equipment offers less protection against the virus.

"We observe that face shields are able to block the initial forward motion of the exhaled jet; however, aerosolized droplets expelled with the jet are able to move around the visor with relative ease," researchers from Florida Atlantic University said.

The researchers added that there is a possibility that the widespread use of face shields and face masks with exhalation valves as replacements to the regular masks could have an adverse effect on the ongoing efforts to mitigate and stop the spread of the virus.

The study's result was released on Tuesday, following the trends of the increasing number of people who are using face shields. Some countries have already mandated their citizens to wear face shields believing that it could help protect a person against the virus.

The study was published in the Journal of Physics of Fluids. The researchers asserted that face shields and face masks with exhalation valves allowed ejected particles to escape and putting those around you in danger of being exposed to the virus.

To support their claims, the researchers released a visual presentation on Tuesday and showed how large plumes of particles could escape from behind a face shield or vented mask.

The researchers used a manikin head and simulated a cough or sneeze by a pressure impulse applied to a manual pump.

It was observed that tracers composed of droplets of distilled water and glycerin were expelled through the head and were visualized by the laser sheets to see the plume's illuminated path, according to a published report in Fox News.

While the initial particles were blocked, the visual presentation showed that aerosolized particles swirling out from under the shield.

Overall, the researchers noted that the visuals presented indicated that the wearing of face shields and face shields with exhalation valves might not be as effective compared to a regular mask in restricting the spread of the aerosolized droplets.

Linsey Marr, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech, said that air has to bend to go around the face shield, and smaller aerosol particles believed to play a role in the spread of the virus, follow the airflow around the face shield.

The researchers then concluded that face masks with exhalation valves will only allow many particles to escape and that some of the nonmedical vented masks used had faulty valves. However, the study has a caveat because it did not look at the protection level that face shields and face masks offered.

It is also important to note that the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention does not currently recommend using face shields as an alternative to regular face masks.

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