The Big Issue - UK (2021-03-01)

FROM 01 MARCH 2021 BIGISSUE.COM | 15

59 per cent of Brits

wear glasses, the 11th

highest rate in Europe

The highest

percentage of

glasses wearers are in

Belgium, with 70 per

cent using spectacles

Turkey and Estonia

are the joint-lowest in

Europe at 20 per cent

(Statista)

fact/fiction. Old news, truthfully retold

FACTS. CHECKED

While it may seem unlikely, there is actually a fair bit of truth
to the news reports.
In fact, it is not the first time that the impact of glasses has
been studied throughout the pandemic and a previous study
supporting the findings here.
This round of news stories came from a study at a hospital in
Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh in India.
Researchers tested 304 coronavirus patients – 223 males and
81 females aged between 10 and 80 years of age – last summer
over the course of two weeks. They found 58 people consistently
wore spectacles during the daytime – 19 per cent of the group.
The scientists observed participants and found they touched
their face 23 times per hour on average, and also touched their
eyes three times per hour.
As a result, they found people who wear glasses were two to
three times less likely to contract than those without.
The study’s lead author Amit Kumar Saxena, an
ophthalmologist from India’s National Programme for Control
of Blindness, concluded the nasolacrimal duct may be a route of
virus transmission from conjunctival sac to the nasopharynx. In
other words, touching your eye can pass on the virus and leave
you open to infection.
The Indian study followed a report in China released in
September that also found people wearing glasses were less

susceptible to catching the virus. However, Simon Kolstoe,

a senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, wrote in

The Conversation that the September findings should be

“treated with caution”.

Researchers looked up the number of people with myopia

(short-sightedness) admitted to hospital in Wuhan and

found admissions over five times lower than the rest of

the population.The Indian study takes our knowledge a step

further, taking the theoretical into the practical through to an

observational study, but there is still a way to go until we know

just how much difference glasses make.

The authors of the study acknowledge more research is

required, admitting that the small scale and short duration of

the research means it cannot prove the findings definitively.

There were a range of reactions on social media from

agreement to ridicule but there is a reason full PPE includes eye

coverage. That remains optional for the general public, but in

the US, White House chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci

has suggested covering eyes with glasses or a visor is advisable

if you want “perfect protection of the mucosal surfaces”.

This case underlines that science is a process and, progress is

being made to understand Covid-19 every day.

Words: Liam Geraghty @LGeraghty

Are glasses wearers three times

less likely to get Covid-19?

HOW IT WAS TOLD
For anyone who has had to live with the annoyance of seeing
their lenses steam up while wearing a mask during the
pandemic, you could be forgiven for thinking there must be
some advantage to wearing glasses in these times.
Scientists heard your plea.
News reports released between February 20 and 22
claimed wearing spectacles could act as an unlikely aid in
staving off Covid-19.
The story grabbed attention in both the UK and the USA.
The Independent set the tone with their headline: “Glasses-
wearers up to three times less likely to catch coronavirus,
study suggests”.
Other titles took a similar approach with The Mirror and
The Daily Telegraph both opting for near identical headlines to
The Independent’s effort.
The Sun mixed it up and provided a bit more detail with: “SPECS
APPEAL People who wear glasses are three times LESS likely to
catch Covid as they don’t rub their eyes as often, study reveals”.
Metro covered the story too, they opted for: “People who wear
glasses ‘up to three times less likely to catch Covid’”.
Fox News ran the story in the States under the headline:
“Coronavirus less likely to infect glasses wearers, study suggests”.
And the New York Post’s coverage read: “Glasses wearers 2-to-
times less likely to get Covid-19, study says”.
But how do the stories stack up under the microscope? Do
glasses really have an impact on the likelihood you will catch the
virus or are the stories wrong?
Illustration: Miles Cole

REPEATING

WORTH

Can spinach really

send emails?

Read all our Fact/

Fictions online at

bigissue.com/tag/

fact-fiction/