The thingie is called a face shield. But - paramedics don't use them.
Paramedics do not do mouth-to-mouth. They use a bag-valve-mask (BVM) over the patient's nose and mouth; then they eventually intubate the patient (place a tube into the trachea); and squeeze air into the patient's lungs periodically until the patient is either pronounced, placed on life-support, or rescusitated (in order of liklihood, with rescus being maybe 5%).
Actually, since 2008 the American Heart Association has been teaching "hands only CPR" for lay people, partially due to the risk.
Paramedics are often the unsung heroines and heroes of the healthcare team. Their job is difficult in ways that many never consider. Weather, traffic, conditions in homes, gangs, crime, family of trauma, the bereaved. Unimaginable hazards. Our local team once spent the better part of the night searching in the sleet for an infant following a 2 vehicle motor vehicle accident - mother dead in car one, infant dead in car two, both fathers unconscious, and an empty carseat in car one. After about 7 hours, the sheriff was finally able to track down the grandmother who had the infant from car one.
Paramedics, Firefighters, LE - Hat Tip!
