DETROIT – You’ve no doubt seen the plexiglass dividers being used to protect people in different public settings. Now they have been installed on the stage at Wednesday’s 2020 Vice Presidential Debate to shield the participants from each other, but are they effective? Plexiglass shields and partial walls sound like a good idea -- a solid barrier between two people must do something to protect them from each other -- but many of the extreme measures we’re taking in these days of COVID-19 aren’t necessarily rooted in science and often become hygiene theater. In many ways it’s a similar circumstance to the question over the effectiveness of face shields. Recent analysis has shown while they do block large droplets -- aerosols can travel around them.