Simulation of the world’s fastest supercomputer shows face shields are ineffective

The researchers ran a simulation using the world’s fastest supercomputer, the Fugaku. It helped determine that almost 100 percent. Airborne droplets with a diameter of less than 5 microns easily avoid the plastic shield commonly used by service personnel.

A micrometer is one millionth of a meter.

Additionally, about half of the largest droplets with a diameter of 50 micrometers also find their way into the air, according to a report released by the government-sponsored research institute Riken in Kobe.

This week, influential UK researchers criticized UK authorities for emphasizing only the importance of hand washing, but not enough for aerosol transfer and ventilation, factors Japanese authorities have mentioned to the public during the pandemic.

As some countries try to open up their economies, face shields are becoming commonplace in industrial sectors where human contact is unavoidable, such as in stores or beauty salons.

Makoto Tsubokura, head of the Riken Center for Computer Science, said the simulation combined atmospheric emissions with tens of thousands of drops of different sizes. The scientist does not wrap words in cotton: the results obtained suggest that protective face shields cannot be considered a suitable alternative to protective face masks.

“Judging from the results of our simulation, unfortunately, the effectiveness of face shields in preventing droplets from a person’s mouth from spreading to the environment is very limited compared to masks,” says The Guardian Tsubokura.

“This is especially true for small droplets less than 20 microns in diameter,” he said, adding that all the smaller aerosol particles easily escaped through the space between the face and the shield. In the case of drops larger than 50 microns, this protection works.

Tsubokura says that people who are advised not to wear protective masks, those with respiratory problems, and young children, may have a little such alternative, but only outdoors or in adequately ventilated indoor areas.

The Fugaku computer, which can perform more than a trillion calculations per second, recently found that protective face masks made from nonwoven fabric are more effective at preventing COVID-19 spreading droplets than those made from cotton or polyester.

970 million The supercomputer pound also ran simulations that explain how airway droplets spread through divided office spaces and crowded trains through car windows.

Although the computer will not be fully operational until next year, soon, as expected, it will help 2 thousand. medications to select the most appropriate treatment for the new coronavirus.