Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic provoked a number of restrictive measures, such as the closure or severe restriction of border transit for international trading traffic, quarantines and self-isolation. This caused a series of interrelated consequences that not only prevent or slow down the spread of disease, but also impact the medical systems’ capability to treat the patients and help their recovery. In particular, steeply growing demand for medical safety goods cannot be satisfied by regular suppliers due to the shortage of raw materials originating from other countries or remotely located national sources, under conditions of quarantined manpower. The current context inevitably brings back memories (and records!) of the situation 80 years ago, when WWII necessitated major effort directed at the rapid build-up of low-cost mass production to satisfy all aspects of war-time need. In the present short report we document a successful case of fast mass-production of light transparent medical safety face shields (thousands per day) realized in Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) at Fablab and Machine Shop Shared Facility (Skoltech FabLab). The demand for safety face shields by tens of hospitals in Moscow and other cities rapidly ramped up due to the need to protect medical staff during patient collection and transportation to hospitals, and within both the infected (“red”) and uninfected (“green”) zones. Materials selection for sterilizable transparent materials was conducted based on the analysis of merit indices, namely, minimal weight at given stiffness and minimal cost at given stiffness. Due to the need for permanent wear, design was motivated by low weight and comfortable head fixation, along with high production efficiency. The selection of minimal tooling in University fabrication workshops and the use of distributed volunteer labor are discussed.
Highlights
The extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic have significantly changed the operation conditions and landscape in many fields of businesses and everyday life activities [1]
We document a successful case of fast mass-production of light transparent medical safety face shields realized in Skoltech Fablab and Machine Shop Shared Facility
COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a dramatic disruption of global supply chains and resulted in temporary, but acute shortage of protection equipment (PPE) in high demand for both medical staff in hospitals and personnel of public services, and for ordinary citizens
Summary
The extraordinary circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic have significantly changed the operation conditions and landscape in many fields of businesses and everyday life activities [1]. Many firms have continued to experience supply challenges as a result of the suspension of manufacturing activity, decreased production and labor shortages Those with warehousing facilities in impacted areas have faced difficult decisions about how or whether to keep manufacturing their products. The efficiency of goods like face filtering masks and transparent full face medical shields discussed and and impugned impugned by some specialists specialists [5]. The most comprehensive review of face shields infection control to date [6] concludes products were mainly considered and regulated as labor protection equipment against mechanical these products were mainly considered and regulated as labor protection equipment against impacts andimpacts that at least therein were standards (only recommendations) posing the norms on mechanical and in that at least.
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