JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Some Local high schools are considering a new product that could help prevent the spread of the coronavirus for football players.
With the scheduled start to football season right around the corner, coaches and doctors are working to find ways to keep players safe when the games begin.
Helmet manufacturer Schutt has developed a new visor for football helmets that attaches to the inside of a faceguard called “Splash Shield.”
The visor aims to cover a player’s eyes, nose and mouth to limit the spread of coronavirus as a sports return.
The question is how effective will the visor be?
”I don’t know how you really tell how effective they will be and you are talking about potentially affecting someone’s vision and you know even some of those visors they fog up even before all this COVID started,” said Bob Sefcik, Executive Director of the Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program.
While you will see some players hear on the First Coast wearing shields similar to this one on the field this fall, you likely will not see a mandate requiring them on the field because of the price tag associated with getting a splash shield for a whole team.
”If you got back a could years to when that new football helmet came out you had some teams that were buying it you had a couple of parents that would buy it for one team but it is tough to make those decisions across the board,” Sefcik said.
While the equipment like the splash shield will help to protect players on the field coaches and players will have to pay attention to keeping locker rooms clean to protect players off of it.
“We need to get back to having those conversations why is it important to wash why is it important to keep your locker room clean and sanitary why is it important to take your equipment home not only to stop the transmission of COVID but it could be ringworm or other contagions that are in that locker room environment,” Sefcik said.