NFL unveils Oakley Mouth Shield to combat coronavirus
Jul
13
7/13/2020 11:56:14 AM
|More
In the name of health and safety, NFL players could be sporting a whole new look in 2020, Tim McManus of ESPN reports.
The Oakley Mouth Shield -- a product designed by doctors and engineers from the NFL and NFL Players Association to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus on the field of play -- is expected to be distributed to all 32 teams over the next week, when it will receive a test drive on a much larger scale than it has gotten to date.
Safety protocol negotiations are ongoing between the league and players. Currently, there is no mandate to wear a face shield, but the NFL's medical experts are advocating for the use of the protective equipment.
"That's certainly what we're going to encourage," said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer. "And we hope that we're going to land on a product design that's something that everyone would want to wear, because they'll see the value and want that additional protection without any detriment to performance."
The Oakley Prizm Lens Technology used by skiers, military personnel and, most recently, NFL players for enhanced color and contrast in their visors, is featured in the new design. Plastic sheets extend down and attach to the faceguard. There are airways and openings on the mouth shield but none that allow the direct transmission of droplets, according to the chair of the NFL's engineering committee, Dr. Jeff Crandall.
The mouth shield has already been distributed to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers -- two teams close to Oakley's home base -- per NFLPA medical director Dr. Thom Mayer, and has also been sent to various player representatives and equipment managers for feedback.
The two biggest concerns to date have been visibility and breathe-ability, according to Mayer.
"We've only had it on a few players -- we have 2,500 players in the league -- but I was surprised that ... claustrophobia has not been an issue yet," he said. "I think it will be when we [have more players testing them]."
Crandall said that Oakley has conducted internal testing in which it has sprayed particles of fluid to represent droplets expelled by players and has seen a high success rate of blocked transmission.
"I don't know that there's a direct percentage that anyone's come up with because a laboratory is not the on-field environment, obviously," Crandall said. "There's lots of things that players do on the fields that they're not easily replicating [in] the laboratory, but it is a significant blockage to transmission of droplets. There is no straight pathway through the face shield or visor for a droplet to be transmitted."
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Jul
13
7/13/2020 11:56:14 AM
|More
In the name of health and safety, NFL players could be sporting a whole new look in 2020, Tim McManus of ESPN reports.
The Oakley Mouth Shield -- a product designed by doctors and engineers from the NFL and NFL Players Association to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus on the field of play -- is expected to be distributed to all 32 teams over the next week, when it will receive a test drive on a much larger scale than it has gotten to date.
Safety protocol negotiations are ongoing between the league and players. Currently, there is no mandate to wear a face shield, but the NFL's medical experts are advocating for the use of the protective equipment.
"That's certainly what we're going to encourage," said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer. "And we hope that we're going to land on a product design that's something that everyone would want to wear, because they'll see the value and want that additional protection without any detriment to performance."
The Oakley Prizm Lens Technology used by skiers, military personnel and, most recently, NFL players for enhanced color and contrast in their visors, is featured in the new design. Plastic sheets extend down and attach to the faceguard. There are airways and openings on the mouth shield but none that allow the direct transmission of droplets, according to the chair of the NFL's engineering committee, Dr. Jeff Crandall.
The mouth shield has already been distributed to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers -- two teams close to Oakley's home base -- per NFLPA medical director Dr. Thom Mayer, and has also been sent to various player representatives and equipment managers for feedback.
The two biggest concerns to date have been visibility and breathe-ability, according to Mayer.
"We've only had it on a few players -- we have 2,500 players in the league -- but I was surprised that ... claustrophobia has not been an issue yet," he said. "I think it will be when we [have more players testing them]."
Crandall said that Oakley has conducted internal testing in which it has sprayed particles of fluid to represent droplets expelled by players and has seen a high success rate of blocked transmission.
"I don't know that there's a direct percentage that anyone's come up with because a laboratory is not the on-field environment, obviously," Crandall said. "There's lots of things that players do on the fields that they're not easily replicating [in] the laboratory, but it is a significant blockage to transmission of droplets. There is no straight pathway through the face shield or visor for a droplet to be transmitted."
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/theredzoneorg
Like us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/Theredzone.org
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