NYU Designs Coronavirus Face Shield For Healthcare Workers

New York, NY – Researchers at New York University are creating a new protective face shield design for healthcare workers on the frontlines of the new coronavirus pandemic.

This effort comes in response to a nation-wide shortage of personal protective equipment – a situation that is particularly dire in New York City, which now has the largest number of reported coronavirus cases in the country.

This shield can be produced and assembled in under one minute, which means it can be delivered at a fraction of the time it takes to 3D print a similar product. The team from NYU has already produced 100 masks and deployed them to emergency rooms, and intends to begin production at scale next week with the goal of producing 300,000 shields within two weeks.

The NYU Covid-19 Task Force will work with the Open Face PPE Project to make the process available to all for free – from design to use in healthcare settings. They will call on smaller local manufacturers to get involved in order to quickly ramp up production.

"These small-scale manufacturers have the advantage of both being able to mobilize quickly and of being located in striking distance to overstressed New York area hospitals," said Steven Kuyan, director of entrepreneurship at NYU Tandon, in a prepared statement. "Instead of laying off staff they're able to use our designs to fill an important need for PPE."

The new shields are made from Plexiglass with an easy-to-attach elastic head strap.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation is funding the first round of production of these shields.