The ongoing respiratory COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted the social and
private lives of the majority of the global population. This infection is
primarily transmitted via virus-laden fluid particles (i.e., droplets and
aerosols) that are formed in the respiratory tract of infected individuals and
expelled from the mouth in the course of breathing, talking, coughing, and
sneezing. To mitigate the risk of virus transmission, in many places of the
world, the public has been asked or even obliged to use face covers. It is
plausible that in the years ahead we will see the use of face masks, face
shields and respirators become a normal practice in our life. However, wearing
face covers is uncomfortable in some situations, like, for example, in summer
heat, while staying on beaches or at hotel swimming pools, doing exercises in
gyms, etc. Also, most types of face cover become contaminated with time and
need to be periodically replaced or disinfected. These nuisances are caused by
the fact that face covers are based on material barriers, which prevent inward
and outward propagation of aerosol and droplets containing the pathogen.
Applying well established gas-particle flow formalism, we study a non-material
based protection barrier created by a flow of well directed down stream of air
across the front of the open face. The~protection is driven by dragging
virus-laden particles inside the width of the air flow and hence, as a
consequence, displacing them away from their primary trajectories. The study,
shows that such, potentially portable, air curtains can effectively provide
both inward and outward protection and serve as an effective personal
protective equipment (PPE) mitigating human to human transmission of virus
infection like COVID-19.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, version accepted for publication in Physics MDP