By Nikki Coralde

PHOTO: Rommel Lopez, News5

Binigyang linaw ng isang chemistry professor at aerosol expert mula sa University of Colorado-Boulder na walang saysay ang paggamit ng face shield at plastic barriers para mapigilan ang pagkalat ng mga sakit na sumasailalim sa airborne transmission gaya ng COVID-19. 

Sa isang panayam na isinagawa ng ANC, sinabi ni Jose-Luis Jimenez na “outdated” na umano ang paggamit ng face shields at pinayuhan ang lahat na mas bigyang pansin ang paggamit ng mas ligtas na face masks at mga bagay na talagang gumagana. 


"Face shields are outdated. At the beginning of the pandemic, we saw that when two people talk, there were some projectiles, these droplets, were flying through the air and then a face shield could intercept them," ani Jimenez.
 
“Now we know that’s not the case. It’s like smoke, and the smoke can go under the face shield. So face shields, basically are useless except in the hospital,” dagdag pa niya.

Samantala, idiniin din ng aerosol expert na mas maliit daw ang posibilidad na mahawa ng COVID-19 sa labas ng bahay. 

“The biggest misconception is simply not understanding that the only important mode of transmission is breathing the virus in. The most effective measure that we can do is to do things outdoors. The chance of getting infected outdoors is 20 times less than indoors,” aniya. 

Dagdag pa niya, delikado lamang umano na mahawa sa virus kapag nakikipag-usap nang malakas at nasa isang silid na walang maayos na ventilation. 

“The virus is in the air but it's especially when you talk to someone very close because that air that they are exhaling, you are breathing it in. What increases transmission is when we increase the time that we share the air with people in indoor spaces that are not ventilated and when we are talking loudly,” paglilinaw pa ni Jimenez.