Investigation of the protection efficacy of face shields against aerosol cough droplets

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Abstract

No abstract available

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.07.06.20147090: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.


    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    A few comments regarding the limitations of the study and the interpretation of the results should be made: First, the distribution of pathogens among different droplet size populations is yet unknown for the novel coronavirus, as is the minimal infective dose. Therefore, these factors are not taken into account in our analysis. The relation between blocking efficacy and transmittance probability is an important issue not addressed in this study. Second, during their flight, droplets evaporate, and their diameter is reduced. This process is affected by the flow velocity, temperature, and relative humidity in the close proximity of the droplet, which can deviate from environmental background values due to the local impact of the droplet cloud itself (Bourouiba. 2020). Studying this effect requires careful monitoring and control on the environmental parameters along the droplets path. This, too, was not in the scope of the current work. Another important comment regards the protection a face shield, or a surgical mask against air-suspended, fine aerosol. A plastic visor is not a filter, and fine contaminated particulate matter, carried with the airflow, can easily go around the face shield. Likewise, a surgical mask, though made of permeable material that can, by itself, act as a filter, is not designed to block fine aerosol from being inhaled. A recent study (Konda, et al., 2020) reports that even a minor gap, allowing the flow to bypass the filter, drastically decreases the f...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.