Apple Face Shield

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The Apple Face Shield is a face shield manufactured by Apple Inc.. The product was announced on April 5, 2020 and was designed for medical professionals during the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic.
Background
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic's unanticipated speed of propagation and severity caused supply chain failure and widespread medical shortages. Several Western countries quickly exhausted their limited strategic stocks of surgical masks while the need for protective glasses and faceshields at such scale was not anticipated. Facing shortages and emergency, medical institutions turned to alternatives sources of medical equipment such as crowdsourcing from locals and volunteer 3D makers.
Development
A pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, California created a prototype of the product a few weeks prior to its release. Apple CEO Tim Cook described the design and production of the face shield as "a company-wide effort".
Design
The Face Shield consists of a plastic forehead band, a clear plastic face shield, and a silicone strap. Assembly of the product, which happens in the field, involves removing thin protective films from the face shield and band, aligning the slots on the shield and band, and passing the strap via the slots. The product can be adjusted by loosening or tightening the strap. It is designed to worn with other personal protective equipment, and can be sterilized and reused.
Release
The Face Shield was announced by Tim Cook on April 5, 2020, via a video posted to Cook's Twitter account; in the video Cook announced that 20 million shields had been sourced to global suppliers. The first batch was delivered to the Kaiser facility in Santa Clara where the product was first prototyped.
Reception
Smita Rouillard, an executive director at Kaiser Permanente, said that the face shields allowed them to preserve personal protective equipment "for a longer period of time". According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), healthcare workers who aren't wearing tight-fitting N95 masks should wear face shields like Apple's.

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