Wearing glasses can reduce your chances of catching Covid-19, finds new research

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

New Delhi, Sep 18, 2020:    We have all seen how ‘certified young person’ Paul Rudd tried to appeal to the millennials to wear a face mask to curb the spread of coronavirus.

 

Now, he might as well appeal to us to wear eyeglasses since a recent study reveals that those who wear eyeglasses are five times less likely to contract COVID-19.

A research from China published in JAMA Ophthalmology Journal studied 276 patients with COVID-19 in Suizhou Zengdu Hospital in Suizhou city from January 27 to March 13. Out of 276 subjects, 16 patients had myopia and wore glasses for more than eight hours a day.

The introduction of the report mentions how more than 80% of the population in China had myopia, which made wearing of eyeglasses common among Chinese individuals of all ages.

However, the scientists noted that since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan in December 2019, very few patients with eyeglasses were contracting the virus.

Scientists found that patients with COVID-19 who wore eyeglasses for more than eight hours every day were much less in number compared to those who did not wear eyeglasses. This finding led them to conclude that people who wear eyeglasses daily are less susceptible to COVID-19.

Since the outbreak of pandemic, medical authorities like World Health Organisations have asked people to avoid touching their faces as the risk of virus entering the body increases. It is said that eyes, nose and mouth are the most likely places from where the virus might find its way in.

The research says, “Eyes usually lack protection, and an abundance of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 has been found on the ocular surface,8 through which SARS-CoV-2 can enter the human body.”

However, the research does come with limitations, as they did not studied a large group of people. The scientists say that their study needs to be replicated on a large scale to verify the findings.