Sneeze guard

With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, sneeze guards have been installed in public places like offices, schools and retail stores to reduce the risk of infection through respiratory droplets.

In February 2020, the World Health Organization advised the use of "physical barriers to reduce exposure to the COVID-19 virus, such as glass or plastic windows",[1] which is in line with the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends to "Place a barrier (e.g. sneeze guard) between employees and customers".

It improves upon the traditional sneeze guard by its collapsible design enabling its transformation into an easy-to-carry form.

This sort of sneeze guard conveniently transports inside a backpack, briefcase, or similar everyday carry bag.

With growing concerns over sneeze guard use, the New York State Education Department released a memo claiming that certain barriers must be polycarbonate due to the fire code.

[4] A line in the memo reads, "Note for installations where the sneeze guard is not fastened to a building element, the product would be considered a furnishing required to comply with MPS S205-13 b.

[citation needed] Multiple studies, including by Johns Hopkins University, the UK SAGE Environmental Modelling Group (EMG) for COVID-19, and the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have shown that sneeze guards may not be necessarily effective against reducing the spread of respiratory diseases, finding that they can impede the ventilation of a room, and that the barriers were more effective at blocking particles exhaled by coughs than particles exhaled by speaking (which accumulate around the barrier as an aerosol), as they were generally larger and had more momentum.