1-Inch Left side of ipad mini 2 not respond to touch input

From googling I can see that this is due to faulty digitizer
but why would 1 inch of the digitizer not respond to touch input?
is it shorting somewhere?

why did it fail in the first place, when it was working before?

is there any solution to fix this digitizer other than replacement?
e.g. putting tape around the edge of the screen, tape where the connectors are to prevent a short.

I know there can be other issues that occur after replacing the digitizer

e.g. ghost touch input

Is there anything that can be done to prevent the ghost touch input issue after replacement of the digitizer?