The NFL had a lot of time on their hands to come up with some ideas to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 among its players and staff. And while itâs been clear that most of their protocols havenât worked as expected, their new anti-Covid-19 helmets are pretty dope, at least if youâre a fan and not a player.
The new NFL helmet against Covid-19, called the Oakley Mouth Shield, has already been a matter of controversies around countless players around the league, and while the NFL doesnât state that itâs mandatory, their experts vastly encourage it to protect players from the coronavirus:
âThatâs certainly what weâre going to encourage. And we hope that weâre going to land on a product design thatâs something that everyone would want to wear, because theyâll see the value and want that additional protection without any detriment to performance,âsaidthe NFLâs chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills.
New NFL Helmets: Oakley Mouth Shield
According to ESPN andNFLâs engineering committee Dr. Jeff Crandall, the helmet features airways in the mouth shield that are specifically designed to not allow the direct transmission of droplets or saliva. Moreover, the new NFL helmet against Covid-19 also features the Oakley Prizm Lens Technology which is also used by the military and skiers to enhance color vision in their visors.
Then again, stars like JJ Watt have already taken a stand against these kinds of helmets by claiming that the feeling of claustrophobia and poor vision are just too tough to overcome while theyâre on the field.
Who Makes The NFL Helmets?
The new NFL helmets against Covid-19 are made by Oakley. The company tested the mouth shields by spraying fluid particles to mimic saliva and droplets expelled by the players and the results were allegedly quite successful. However, there are still doubts regarding whether theyâll work on the field or not.
âThereâs lots of things that players do on the fields that theyâre 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,â Crandall said.
Sadly, these helmets still havenât prevented the players and teams from contracting the virus as weâve seen multiple Covid-19 outbreaks around the league. This could have all been avoided with a better protocol, but at least it seems like weâll get through the season.
