A father-and-son team from Ocean City are bringing a new kind of personal protective equipment to market, designed to constantly monitor for symptoms of Covid-19 or other fever-inducing infections.
Rafael Correa Jr. and Rafael Correa Sr. have a background and long family history in inventing and tech manufacturing. As the Covid-19 pandemic persists and various industries are considering the best ways to welcome back workers and keep them protected, Correa Jr. said he and his father want to be part of the "great American comeback story" following the onset of the pandemic. To that end, they invented a new kind of PPE tool: a face shield that can help constantly monitor a wearer's temperature and alert them to signs of a fever.
The new tech, called ICU Shield, is a plastic, full-face covering with a built-in thermometer that provides continuous temperature monitoring through color-coded squares that light up to indicate certain temperature ranges. Correa Jr. said it can signal if a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher is suspected, so the wearer can quickly consult a medical professional and be evaluated for symptoms of a possible viral infection. It can help increase the effectiveness of cloth face masks to reduce disease transmission, and can help encourage wearers to avoid touching their faces, the inventors say.
The Correas specifically designed the shield for use as a kind of peer-to-peer monitoring system in work environments like schools or factories, where larger groups of people may have to be working close together. Correa Jr., who chiefly works in real estate development, noted the ICU Shield could also be useful in customer service settings like hospitality and retail. Firms operating in those spaces, including manufacturers, school districts and hotels, will be target customer markets for the ICU Shield, he said.
The Correas have spent several months working on the ICU Shield design and are ready to launch sales of their new product. Correa Jr. said he knows the PPE market is competitive, but he hopes a few features of the ICU Shield will set the product apart, namely its two-in-one capability to help prevent the exchange of pathogens and constantly monitor for spiking temperatures.
"We really wanted to combine PPE with a monitoring element, because we know both those elements are essential as we're coming back to some kind of normalcy now," Correa Jr. said. "We are giving people an alternative option to periodic temperature checks and plexiglass barriers."
Correa Jr. noted he and his father also wanted their product to be more comfortable than some of the others currently available on the market, so they went with a flexible, elastic head strap instead of a rigid plastic one, and created a built-in pivot system so the shield can be easily lifted without having to be completely removed. They also made sure the shield itself was fog-proof so the wearer's field of vision remains unobstructed.
"I know there are lots of mixed feelings out there on PPE, but regardless it's becoming a very significant part of our lives," Correa Jr. said. "I believe the best PPE is the kind that is easy to use correctly. That was really the focus of our design."
The ICU Shield costs about $20 per unit and is manufactured entirely in the U.S. Correa Jr. said there will be discounts for bulk orders and customers may also be able to customize or add branding to the shields if they want.
The ICU Shield's inventors are currently reaching out to potential customers and sending samples to local companies and school systems. They hope to create market awareness of the product and to get feedback on how the ICU Shield could be improved or adapted for different settings.
Correa Jr. is using the ICU Shield to help protect employees and guests at properties controlled by his development firm, Blue Water Development. The company, at which Correa Jr. serves as chief financial officer, operates several hotels along the East Coast, including in Ocean City.
"At stores and front desks, I think [using ICU Shield] is a great way to communicate, 'I care about protecting myself and you,' and to show someone they are in the presence of someone healthy," Correa Jr. said
Prior to getting into development, Correa Jr. worked alongside his father at MaTech, a military weapons manufacturer in Salisbury co-founded by Correa Sr. ICU Shield is the latest of many inventions from Correa Sr., who holds a total of 28 patents.
