3 Ways Sneeze Guards for Desks Prevent The Spread of Illness

You must have noticed the prevalence of sneeze guards and perspex screens explode in the past year. 

Once found almost exclusively in food establishments, they have now begun to appear in just about every business where face-to-face interactions occur. 

The World Health Organization has recommended sneeze guards for desks as a primary method to address COVID safety at work. They can be equally effective at preventing the spread of other airborne pathogens, as well.

We all know at this point that desk sneeze guards help combat the spread of illness. But it can be helpful to understand how they work.

If you're interested in understanding three ways that sneeze guards in the workplace help protect the health of employees and customers, read on.

1. Preventing Person-to-Person Transmission

Airborne pathogens are germs that are able to be spread through particles that float in the air, also known as aerosols. Generally, this means that the germs live in the respiratory system. 

Actions like speaking, coughing, sneezing, or even exhaling can release such aerosols.

Many contagious diseases are spread by airborne pathogens. Examples include Covid-19, the flu, the common cold, and tuberculosis. 

One of the most important ways that desk sneeze guards help prevent the spread of illness is by creating a barrier between people. This literally blocks the aerosols from passing from person to person.

2. Keeping Germs From Contaminating Surfaces

Aerosols aren't the only particles created when coughing, sneezing, or talking. These actions also create respiratory droplets, which are larger and tend to drop out of the air rather than float like aerosols.

Respiratory droplets consist mostly of water. This means they generally sustain germs better than the drier aerosols. Thus, it's important to prevent them from contaminating surfaces that might be touched by uninfected people.

Surfaces contaminated by respiratory droplets (or even aerosols) can transmit illnesses. Some examples are foods, desktops, computer devices, or writing utensils.

The barrier created by sneeze guards for desks can prevent this contamination.

3. Improving General Well-Being

Physical prevention of germ transmission is the primary way in which business sneeze guards protect public health. However, there are other tangible and intangible benefits. This is especially true in the era of Covid-19.

For example, customers and employees alike will feel more at ease in an environment where clear precautions have been taken to prevent the spread of disease. Seeing safety as a priority is a sign of care for the health of everyone involved.

On this same note, having sneeze guards in the workplace during the Covid-19 pandemic will help people feel more comfortable if the person they are interacting with has an insufficient mask or shows signs of illness.

 

Using Sneeze Guards For Desks

The benefits of using sneeze guards for desks are clear. If your workplace doesn't have them and involves face-to-face interactions, now is the time to change that.

Check out our standard desk sneeze guards for high-quality examples. Custom sizes are available!