DAVIE, Fla. – A proliferation of plastic barriers have become a sign of the times during this pandemic, but some researchers question whether they really offer any protection against infection or could even be creating more harm than good.
A study at John Hopkins found that desk screens in classrooms were associated with an increased risk of coronavirus infection.
Dr. Aarti Raja, with the Health Science Department at Nova Southeastern University, said without proper ventilation that may be possible, which is why multiple mitigation measures are necessary to protect against the virus.
“We cannot necessarily recreate a building with better ventilation all of a sudden but we could do some simple things, put up a barrier, clean it down, clean your hands, put a mask on if there are five people next to you. All of these things together could solve the problem,” Raja said.
Along with improving ventilation, aerosol scientists say schools and workplaces should focus on encouraging vaccination and wearing masks, which have been proven to reduce the spread of the virus.
Also in today’s health news, a randomized trial conducted in rural Bangladesh finds that iron supplementation did not improve cognitive development in babies.
Iron supplementation in infancy also failed to improve other developmental, behavioral and growth outcomes although it did reduce anemia in at-risk babies.
Infant anemia is rare in the U.S. because many commercial baby formulas in this country are fortified with iron.