'Face shields are ineffective'

A waiter covers his face with a shield as he chat with another person at a restaurant in Florida. File pic/AFP

A simulation in Japan has found that plastic face shields used for protection against the novel Coronavirus is almost totally ineffective, reported the Guardian.

According to a simulation on Fugaku, the world's fastest supercomputer, almost 100 per cent of airborne droplets measuring less than 5 micrometres escaped through the shields, which are being used by several industries across the world as they resume businesses.

The simulation was done at Riken, a research institute in Kobe city supported by the government. The institute said that droplets 50 micrometres made their way out into the air despite wearing the face shields.

Makoto Tsubokura, team leader at Riken's centre for computational science, also warned that face shields should not be used as an alternative to masks.
"Judging from the results of the simulation, unfortunately the effectiveness of face guards in preventing droplets from spreading from an infected person's mouth is limited compared with masks," Tsubokura told the Guardian.

"This is especially true for small droplets of less than 20 micrometres," he said, adding that smaller aerosol particles were escaped through the gap between the face and the shield. "At the same time, it somehow works for the droplets larger than 50 micrometres."

Spain curbs expose poor-rich divide

Heightened restrictions to contain a second wave of COVID-19 in Madrid brought a heated debate over the prevalence of inequality in Spain back into the spotlight on Monday. The measures, including a requirement to justify trips out of the neighbourhoods, affect some 8,60,000 residents. May of those affected feel that authorities are stigmatising the poor.

Does virus spread easily among kids?

It appears the novel Coronavirus can spread among children and teens, but how easily may vary by age. Research is still underway, but children under age 10 seem to be less likely than older kids to transmit the virus to other children and adults.
Very young children with no symptoms or very mild ones can spread the infection, but the rate of spread was low.

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