Nerd immunity?!
A recent study conducted on 304 Covid-19 patients published this month in India found that those who wear glasses are about 2 to 3 times less at risk in contracting Covid-19. The study titled ‘Risk of Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among spectacles wearing population of Northern India’ highlights how about 40% of India’s adult population wears glasses but only 19% of the population that was infected with Covid-19 wore glasses.
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This latest study was in line with multiple other studies that have shown how people who wore glasses at least 8-hours a day makes up a considerably lesser percentage of people that contracted Covid-19. Why is that so, you might ask? Well, a report by WKYC 3 quoted Professor Yaneer Bar-Yam from The New England Complex Systems Institute, an independent academic research and educational institution that clarified,
“If something lands in your eye, it can go through a duct that goes down into your nose and that’s how it might infect you.”
Professor Bar-Yam also noted how the findings in the Indian study mirrored closely of another similar study conducted in China.
Further explaining how wearing glasses could protect you from Covid-19 is how pieces that are found in air particles will get deposited on your glasses instead of on your eyes. Moreover, wearing glasses makes it less likely for you to touch your eyes, hence making it less likely for the virus to infect you.
However, Bar-Yam stressed that wearing glasses would only help protect you from Covid-19 if you wear masks in addition to those glasses. He also stressed that spectacles are not a foolproof protection against the virus, but only lessens the risks of being infected. He then advised for those wearing glasses to always wash them with soap after using them:
“If Covid-19 particles are being blocked by your glasses, or other eye covering,” it must be assumed that the virus may have settled on your glasses.You should definitely wash them with soap after you use them,”
For illustrative purposes.
So if anyone of you out there are wearing glasses, you can feel a bit at ease that you’re less likely to contract Covid-19. Well, only if you adhere strictly to the new normal of course! #KitaJagaKita #WeAreAllFrontliners
Also read: Does Twisting Your Mask’s Straps Stop Your Glasses From Fogging Up? We Find Out!
