People wearing glasses up to three times less likely to get infected with COVID-19: Study
By Deighton Acuin and Archie Villaflores
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| PHOTO: TIME |
A study from India has suggested that individuals who are wearing glasses who could be up to three times less likely to get infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Touching eyes, nose, or mouth is one of the ways that the virus can enter in the body.
Researchers in India, however, said people wearing glasses rub their eyes less would be less risky against COVID-19.
In a non-peer reviewed study published on the website medRxiv, the researchers studied 304 people (223 male and 81 female) at a hospital in northern India over two weeks last summer. The patients were aged between 10 and 80 and had all reported COVID symptoms.
Of those individuals, 19 percent wore glasses most of the time. Meanwhile, the researchers found some participants touching their face 23 times each hour and their eyes with an average of three times per hour.
They found the risk of COVID-19 infection was two to three times lower to those wearing glasses.
“Touching and rubbing of the eyes with contaminated hands may be a significant route of infection," the report said.
"Long term use of spectacles may prevent repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes,” it added.
Doctors previously recommended that people who wear contact lenses must switch to glasses in a bid to avoid potential coronavirus infection from their hands.
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