TULSA, Oklahoma – The rally scheduled for Saturday in Tulsa has not only shown continued enthusiasm for President Trump and the country but has also given opportunities to demonstrate America’s ingenuity and charitable nature.
One such example is that of TrueHero Extreme Coverage Face Shields.
In March, Jamestown Plastics, a 50-year old manufacturer of thermoformed products for virtually all industries with locations in Brownsville, Texas and Brocton, New York, made adjustments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The result of Jamestown Plastics’ effort is a full-coverage face shield that was reportedly designed in conjunction with medical professionals with the goal of improving on existing ordinary shields to provide unmatched protection for front line personnel.
Features of the TrueHero mask is its very clear and lightweight plastic construction that is virtually infinitely customizable due to its incorporated hook-and-loop tape. This product is also reusable and “Made in the U.S.A.”
It can even be adapted to connect to the brim of any standard baseball-style cap or construction hard hat.
There has been mixed messages regarding the wearing of face masks to inhibit the spread of COVID-19, from the perspective of both the availability and their actual usefulness as well as potential negative side effects to the wearer.
The TrueHero shield, one of its chief marketers, David Edmondson, a former chief operating officer and chief executive officer of Radio Shack, told The Tennessee Star that the shield gives wearers more complete protection than face masks.
First, the shield covers the wearer’s eyes, in addition to their nose and mouth.
And, as Edmondson explained, the coronavirus is carried in droplets rather than being aerosolized.
The design of the shield means that in a situation of two people both wearing one, a droplet would have to take nine turns to get from one person to the other.
But, the story of the TrueHero shield wouldn’t be complete by just talking about its design features and manufacturing and not how the product has been distributed.
Tens of thousands of the TrueHero shields have been donated to front line workers in hospitals located in several states.
And, when the TrueHero shields were eliminated from a New York City request for proposal because of the use of more customizable hook-and-loop tape instead of elastic, some were donated to hospitals and nursing homes for free.
Edmondson said that from a practical sense, there needs to be a solution between isolation and face masks that he says forces the wearer to breathe their own carbon dioxide, referencing an article by osteopathic physician Dr. Joseph Mercola discussing the topic.
Face shields were given to staff members at the hotel where TrueHero face shield representatives stayed for the Trump rally. Edmondson expressed concern for the hotel staff who had just returned to work for the first time in three months and had to wear face masks.
A donation of TrueHero face shields was going to be made to the Trump campaign for Saturday’s rally at Tulsa’s BOK Center, Edmondson said, but the value of the donation would exceed that amounts allowed by federal campaign finance law.
Edmondson, who had a TrueHero face shield attached to the brim of a red baseball cap emblazoned with Make America Great Again, told The Star that TrueHero face shields will be given out for free to the first 100 people to go into President Trump’s campaign rally Saturday.
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Laura Baigert is a senior reporter at The Tennessee Star.
