Sand shield for protecting inverted electric submersible pump at shutdown

Systems and methods for providing artificial lift to wellbore fluids includes a pump, a motor, and a protector assembly forming an electric submersible pump system located in a wellbore. A solids isolator is located between the pump and the protector assembly. The solids isolator includes a tubular discharge body with an inner discharge bore. A body port extends through a sidewall of the discharge body. A sliding seal member is located within the discharge bore and moveable between a port open position where the body port is open to allow fluids to travel through the body port, and a port closed position, where fluids are prevented from traveling through the body port. The sliding seal member is ring shaped in cross section. The sliding seal member is biased to the port closed position when the pump is off and moveable to the port open position when the pump is on.