Amazon Starts Making Face Shields For Medical Workers

Face Shield / Doc. Amazon

JAKARTA - The largest retail store in the world, Amazon, has begun to shift its business to developing face shields for use by medical personnel. These medical supplies will soon be distributed to doctors and nurses working on coronavirus or COVID-19.

Until now, Amazon has donated nearly 10 thousand face shields for medical workers around the world. The company also plans to make thousands more face shields available for sale on the Amazon site in the next few weeks.

"Because of our design innovation and supply chain capabilities, we believe we will be able to make face shields at a much lower price than other reusable face protection products currently available to frontline workers," said Amazon Robotics vice president Brad Porter. as quoted from Slash Gear, Friday, May 15.

Jeff Bezos' online retailer will adapt the face shield design from a 3D model created by a group of youths in Washington State. To be approved by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and use by medical workers, the design was then refined by Amazon's Prime Air development team.

Amazon has previously distributed face shields throughout the US. This Amazon-made face shield is sold one-third cheaper than face shields on the market, with prices ranging from 15 US dollars to 35 US dollars or around Rp.550 thousand.

For the time being, Amaazon's masks and face shields will be prioritized for medical personnel. Furthermore, Amazon will begin to open the sale of this face shield to the public, in the near future.

"The goal is to get something that feels good, so that you will feel comfortable wearing your face every day," said a senior mechanical designer at Prime Air, Tom Luce.

In fact, this company based in Seattle, USA has been helping with COVID-19 for a long time. In April, Amazon launched support from their website where hospitals and government health agencies can request essential items such as gloves, face masks, face shields and thermometers, among other products.

However, Amazon is not the only technology company helping to fight this global pandemic. Last month, Apple and Google announced their partnership to help health officials track people with positive COVID-19 to apps on smartphones.

Others, Microsoft launched plasmabot to encourage people who are recovering from the coronavirus to donate their plasma. Facebook itself has announced that it is developing a tool for public health researchers to track if physical distancing is working.