The Philippines Face Shield Debate is a tip of the iceberg.



One month of Philippines COVID-19 Pandemic data shows unequivocally that Vaccines Are Working to cut back infection rates and slam down Case Fatality Rates. Here is the raw data.

A medical worker at extreme risk. This medical worker is at risk of infection because of FAKE PPE.
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Thousands of medical workers, nurses in particular, have left their careers in the Philippines because of poor standards, bad PPE, and being underpaid. Non medical shield here, for example, should not be worn in this setting because it scoops exhaled air past the eyes. Double masking is not indicated for N95s as the outer procedure mask breaks the seal of the underlying respirator during movement. If both masks are non respirators, it is effective and indicated. These face shields normally worn in hot environments by pig slaughterers are not a medical grade face shield the definition of which includes being closed and sealed to the forehead to prevent channeling exhaled air and infectious disease. Families of government officials are selling thousands of these things online from Manila via Chinese shopping platforms. The Philippines President wears this type of fake medical shield. Wearers told FPMag they are comfortable because of the steady air flow through the shields that alleviates fogging. But a true shield is supposed to protect the contact of exhaled air and droplets from facial contact of the wearer. These shields deliver that exhalation to the eyes, say medical esperts.
File photo from March 2021, Manila. Original by Aaron Favila /AP. Art/Cropping/Enhancement: Rosa Yamamoto / Feminine-Perspective Magazine


By Melissa Hemingway and Micheal John


Philippines Presidential Decree: Wear your face shield in closed crowded spaces where there is close contact with others.

Filipinos are no longer required to wear face shields outdoors, President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Wednesday.

According to the Philippines state-run news agency: “Duterte made the pronouncement, as he approved the recommendation of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to limit the use of face shields to the so-called “3Cs,” which refers to “closed and crowded” spaces, and activities that “promote close contact.”

“I was informed of the recommendation from the Technical Advisory Group and medical groups that the use of face shields, on top of face mask, may be limited to high-risk activities under the three Cs – closed, crowded pati (and) close contact,” Duterte said in his pre-recorded ‘Talk to the People’.

Duterte also ordered that the implementation and guidelines on the latest policy on use of face shield be done immediately.” Citing Philippines News Agency


FPMag interviewed frontline public health experts around the world and heard these four conclusions.

  1. Al things considered, if properly implemented with an N95 mask while wearing a medical-grade face shield, theoretically, none of those wearers would be infected.
  2. If not properly implemented, using non medical devices like the picture of typical Filipinos, there still would be a slight gain in the disease transmission prevention side but the user would be contacted directly by more of the exhaled air of infected persons in their vicinity.
  3. Wearing fake medical shields because they provide an airflow that helps prevent fogging of sunglasses, eyeglasses and the shield itself, is contraindicated. That’s because the airflow the wearers like to clear misting contains the droplets PPE is supposed to protect the wearer from. The eyes are a key target of SARS2.
  4. Videos of Filipinos walking around Manila in their usual day explain why there is such a spread of the COVID-19 disease while the rest of the world is in decline. Because of poverty, lack of testing, and the lack of available medical assistance, the real numbers are unknown because the vast majority of cases in this poor country are never seen by a doctor.

“Oh my gosh. Demanding our governments to prevent us from contracting preventable disease is a game only for fools,” said an infectious disease specialist, Dr. Nassima al Amouri.

“One of the most notable mistakes people make is wearing ear loop masks that are pretend respirators. The same is true for procedure masks. The good ones tie behind the head and on top of the head. Real N95s have straps that go over the back of the neck and over the top of the head,” said Dr. Nassima al Amouri.


“The ear loop masks, which are contraindicated in protecting against deadly airborne pathogens, of course pivot up and down using an invisible line through the head between the ears, as an axle. Soon they are under the nose.”


“This results in the wearer gripping the front of the mask in their hand and shifting it quickly upwards while they are talking.

“But the front of the mask is covered in pathogens including parasites, bacteria and viruses. That would include the SARS2 virus if that mask was doing its job filtering the virus.”

“That hand that just touched the front of a mask is now contaminated with SARS-CoV-2. If that person then goes to eat a croissant and drink a tea, they will also eat SARS-CoV-2,” she said.

“The United States of America, because it has launched a war with China, is trying to blame the COVID-19 pandemic on the Wuhan Virology Institute in China, relying 100% on this method of accidental infection. The moral of that story is don’t wear ear loop masks, and stop wearing fake medical shields. Both are dangerously providing a false sense of security. I am surprised that Southeast Asian governments are not doing anything to teach the public about the most potent method for preventing illness. Wear proper certified respirators for 95% efficacy against infection and against infecting someone else. If a shield is desired, go ahead and wear a medical grade shield. I like that because it keeps the front of an N95 cleaner and allows more reuses of the N95,” said Dr. Nassima al Amouri who is adamant in saying that each person has a responsibility to protect against infectious disease spread.


“The absolute best one can do today to protect against respiratory illness is wear a Filtering Face-piece Respirator (FFR) and all the while, get vaccinated, do not EVER touch the front of the mask; keep hands clean; stay away from strangers; and keep a clean house, something Filipinos are typically clever about achieving, according to my former nurse, Melissa Hemingway,” she added.

“The mistakes I point out I have personally seen cause the spread of not just SARS2 but many airborne pathogens,” concluded Dr. Nassima al Amouri.


Wearing and Fit Testing a KimberlyClark PFR95:
To ensure PFR95 N95 Particulate Filter Respirators / Surgical Masks are providing the intended level of protection, a User Seal Check must be conducted each and every time they are worn. Once that is completed and the mask properly adjusted, it should remain in place for the entire day or shift in the case of a medical worker.

“Wearing a Filtering Facepiece Respirator and a medical-grade face shield in any indoor environment is a good idea for safety from COVID-19 disease. One needs to know all the nuances of doing so,” agrees Monique Deslauriers, a nurse practitioner in Calais Maine, USA.

“Normally in the medical world, such PPE is worn in conjunction with other items like isolation gowns or ‘bunny suits’. Those garments tend to catch the exhaled air from the top-closed, bottom-opened, shields, which also tend to deflect droplets and moisture laden air which can be snagged by the isolation gowns and other outerwear, hence the PPE outerwear is doffed at the end of the day and destroyed. In street-life, discretion is needed. Civilian outerwear for people coming from closed close-contact spaces must be cleaned at the end of the day in ordinary washing soap,” nurse Deslauriers added.

“These are strange times in a new paradigm that we need to learn more about how to handle,” she said.

Proper medical face shields are closed at one end and do not act like a wind tunnel delivering all air the wearer's head passes, to the eyes and nose. Proper medical face shields are closed at one end and do not act like a wind tunnel delivering all air the wearer’s head passes, to the eyes and nose. Photo Credit: Melissa Hemingway

HARD FACTS: One month of Philippines COVID-19 Pandemic data shows unequivocally that Vaccines Are Working to cut back infection rates and slam down Case Fatality Rates. Here is the raw data:

datecasesdeathCFR%curedactive
8/28/20211916461328411.7141741089142531
8/29/20211935700330081.7051760013142679
8/30/20211954023331091.6941777693143221
8/31/20211976202333301.6871794278148594
9/1/20211989857334481.6811810847145562
9/2/20212003955335331.6731829473140949
9/3/20212020484336801.6671840294146510
9/4/20212040568338731.661847701158994
9/5/20212061084340621.6531869376157646
9/6/20212080984342341.6451889312157438
9/7/20212103331343371.6331909361159633
9/8/20212121308344981.6261928173158637
9/9/20212134005346721.6251948198151135
9/10/20212134005346721.6251948198151135
9/11/20212179770348991.6011969401175470
9/12/20212206021349781.5861985337185706
9/13/20212227367351451.5782010271181951
9/14/20212248071353071.5712032471180293
9/15/20212266066355291.5682052867177670
9/16/20212283011357421.5662076823170446
9/17/20212304192360181.5632090228177946
9/18/20212324475363281.5632100039188108
9/19/20212347550365831.5582126879184088
9/20/20212385616369341.5482171832176850
9/21/20212401916370741.5442193700171142
9/22/20212,417,419372281.5442217611162580
9/23/20212434753374051.542231558165790

If Public Health rules call for masks and shields, cheating endangers the wearer.

Buying and wearing cool-looking scoops attached to plastic eyeglass frames is doing the wearer grave harm and not making very much difference to the community. The filtering face piece respirator mask is everything one needs. A shield can take an N95 to the performance level of an N100 under some circumstances.


“Don’t be stupid about COVID-19 disease, and the pathogenic murdering SARS-CoV-2 virus,” says Manila nurse Karinna Angeles. “It is a deadly infectious disease that kills an average of 2%  of infected persons around the  world and up to ten percent of the unvaccinated vulnerable patients who contract the disease. It is spread through the air. Don’t breath exhaled air from infected persons,” she added.


While it seems somewhat of a mute point, because most Filipinos wear their face shields atop their heads and not across their faces, Philippines lawmakers and bureaucrats all seem to have an opinion on face shields.

Here is the poll data according to Geraldine Frisque, a spokesperson for The RINJ Foundation which has been setting standards in health safety at frontline medical clinics, women’s shelters and  birthing clinics around the world.

  1. “Properly worn N95 masks with a properly worn medical grade face shield provides 100% efficacy in preventing inhalation of COVID-19 according to real world studies done on health care workers and private citizens. This applies to inhalation and exhalation. This has been proven in several structured trials but also in hundreds of retrospective studies on real world, standards-compliant, medical world environments. In public use by private citizens, the medical shield and N95 worn in conjunction with other mitigation practices like social distancing and hygiene, there has been 100% efficacy. Those people who really know what they are doing do not get sick. That means, no sickness from any type of airborne pathogen. That is our experience with thousands of respondents around the world.”
  2. “Non medical shields worn over genuine procedure masks have a likely efficacy of 85% preventing the spread of their SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19). Notwithstanding, this combination is dangerous to the wearer when in a locale where breathing the exhaled air of an infected person is likely. A greater risk to the wearer if the shields are open at both ends because they scoop the ambient air and deliver concentrated doses of the exhaled air of strangers in closed spaces to the wearers eyes and nose. This process also coats the mask with everything that’s in the air. Untrained members of the public touch their masks constantly and later have their fingers in their mouths. They are getting sick.”

Video: Learn how to fit test and use a NIOSH standards N95 mask.


 

Interviewing random people traveling through the very large SM Mall in Baguio City, even challenging those breaking the law by wearing their open ended non-medical face shield atop their heads, was instructive.

Despite police carrying signs saying “wear your shields properly”, most persons we saw out of sight of the ‘safety officers’, wore their shield on the top of their heads.

The key questions were, “Do most of your friends wear this type of unapproved shield atop their heads?” and “Have any of your friends wearing PPE in this manner contracted the COVID-19 disease?”

  • The first answer was 100% “Yes” and that was verifiable, especially among young persons because they were available in hordes.
  • The answer to the second question was 92% “No”.

But meanwhile, COVID-19 is still spreading in the Philippines although not as vigorously in the past few days. These young people, however, who absolutely refuse to wear their face shields over their faces, have proven a point: unapproved, non-medical face shields are dangerous. People refusing to wear them, seem statistically to be safer.

The problem is that members of the Philippines government are making a bundle selling these shields normally used by pig slaughterers. They are big scoops attached to form-molded plastic eyeglass frames.  The people we interviewed say they have tried medical shields which are readily available and cheaper, but that they fog up too easily hence they like the free flow of air past their eyes. Obviously that is contraindicated for disease prevention.

The respondents were speaking to FPMag interviewers who were wearing high-grade certified N95 respirators and approved medical grade face shields. A brief straw poll indicated that the interviewees paid more for their fake PPE than did the interviewers.

Philippines Department of Health and the Philippines President are correct in principal but fail to realize what is really happening in the real world. Corruption in the Philippines ruined their idea and their plan.

The World Health Organization has indicated that it will study the matter to learn if there has been a protective factor in the wearing of face Shields.

Common sense suggests that the blend of proper wearing of the prescribed mask and shield PPE has outweighed all the other factors in stifling the spread of disease.

Wearing a proper respirator mask and shield combination in closed, close-contact spaces is a perfect idea because it has a proven wearer-protective capability.

Wear A Mask This mask is what you need to be safe from COVID-19. Wear your mask each time you go out & when meeting two meters apart from people outside your family or in any closed close contact spaces. Photo credit: Melissa Hemingway.

All-Face-Shield-Manufacturers

Specifications for disease prevention Face Shield