Helmet Modification Aims to Tackle COVID Spread

Some players wear them already, others don’t. In the middle of a pandemic, though, everyone might choose to.

Plastic protective face shields inside of helmets could certainly be the new uniform trend this fall if football can be played.

On Monday, the NFL and Okaley revealed a new face shield that will provide players with some level of protection from COVID-19. Doctors and the league, of course, believe it’s a good idea.

Oakley, which already provides face shields and visors to players, designed a device that will cover the upper and lower part of a player’s face, according to Dr. Jeff Crandall, chairman of the NFL’s engineering committee.

"Clear plastic with slits or holes in it that block any direct path of a droplet, but do promote airflow, communication, soundwaves," Crandall told the Associated Press. "So, they came up with a mouth shield that tried to keep the field of view as much as possible; you don't want to block the lower part. You want to promote breathing and not a sense of restriction. You want to maximize comfort.”

Dr. David Aronoff, an infectious disease physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was ahead of the game. He floated the idea during an interview with AllTitans in June.

While the best way to slow the spread of COVID-19 is to socially distance, that is nearly impossible in a close contact sport like football. If distance can’t be created, people must physically block the virus from entering their bodies by protecting themselves with a face covering. Aronoff said high-efficiency face shields can be very effective in slowing transmission of COVID-19.

“The virus can’t get through solid plastic like that,” he told AllTitans.

Other infectious disease experts and doctors have recently weighed in on the idea too.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s top medical reporter, suggested the same as Aronoff after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, suggested that football may not be safe to play in 2020.

Gupta tweeted, “I hope that’s not the case, but if football does come back this fall, it will likely look very different. For example: possible modified face masks embedded in players helmets, single-use hydration containers and physical distancing + masks on the sidelines. “

However, any prevention a shield may offer will be contingent on a number of things, the biggest being frequent, thorough hand hygiene. If players touch their faces or rub their eyes, for example, the benefit of a face shield essentially would be canceled out.

“Players may inoculate themselves by getting the virus on their fingers and touching their eyes, nose or mouth,” Aronoff said. “Those are common behaviors, that we touch our face. So, training people to avoid touching their faces unless they have to. And if they have to, they must sanitize their hands. Hand sanitizer will be important.”

That may be the most important concept for players, coaches and others to grasp.

“Obviously, football is a contact sport,” Aronoff said. “There are a lot of opportunities for transmission.Participate in good hand hygiene. That may be a source of stress for players, but that could help them for getting inadvertently infected, or infecting others.”

In the coming weeks, a lot more will be clear about the NFL and what football’s new normal will look like as teams are scheduled to report to training camp at the end of July. A lot remains uncertain to date, but all signs point toward Oakley’s new creation being a big part of the conversation.

"We're actively working with players even this coming week looking at prototypes, so we will love to have them rolled out by the time we start," Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told the Associated Press. "Obviously we won't be starting helmeted activities right when training camp starts, that's a little bit of a down-the-road thing. We would love to get them on board from the get-go."