The extra layer of protection you can wear to help against Covid infection in your eyes

Wearing a N95 mask is not the only thing Australians can do to reduce their risk of Covid-19 infection, with another simple step proving to be another layer of protection.

They might be social death but doctors are renewing calls for people to wear glasses as a protection against Covid-19.

And they say when combined with a mask, specs can at least halve your risk of infection.

An Australian medical review paper found the chances of contracting the virus dropped by up to 96 per cent when both eye and face protections were worn.

Australian National University (ANU) infectious diseases expert Professor Peter Collignon, who was involved in the assessment, said this was because virus particles can enter your body through your eyes.

“Aerosol droplets will go down your lachrymal duct (tear duct) to your nose where all the infection is set up. So your eyes are just a vehicle straight into your nose,” he explained.

“When I see people in the community wearing N95 masks and no eye protection I think you missed that message.”

Professor Peter Collignon from the Australian National University Medical School in Canberra, in the ANU microbiology lab.

The best eye protection is a full face shield but safety goggles from a hardware store or science laboratory glasses work too.

Wrap-around sunglasses also provide good protection, but even ordinary spectacles can cut your infection risk by 15 per cent, Professor Collignon said.

Professor Collignon and other Australian academics reviewed more than 900 articles and studies on eye protection in a research paper, published in Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control, last year.

He said people should not underestimate the value of eye wear in the current Covid climate.

“It found you got a more than 50 per cent reduction in risk if your wore eye protection on top of a mask, either a surgical mask or an N95,” he said.

“So, to my mind, there’s much better evidence for an extra benefit from eye protection than there is from the extra protection from going from a surgical mask to an N95 Mask.”

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported in 2020 that one in five health workers in India became infected with Covid, despite wearing three-layered surgical masks, gloves, and shoe covers and using alcohol rub.

After the introduction of face shields however, “no worker developed asymptomatic or symptomatic infection”, the study found.

Studies have found safety goggles and other forms of eye protection provide protection against Covid. Picture: Supplied

Staff working in Covid quarantine hotels in Sydney wore face shields and none of them caught Covid, Professor Collignon said.

A study by researchers at University College London (UCL) found people who wore spectacles for eight hours per day had a 15 per cent greater reduction in Covid infections than people who didn’t while those wearing contact lenses were not protected.

Experts are urging Australians to go the extra mile to protect themselves against the virus with 55,000 new infections a day. Hospitals are under severe strain and have more than 5300 beds taken up by Covid patients.

Tamika Neave is fitted with glasses by Optometrist Greeshma Patel. Picture: Tim Hunter.

State and federal leaders have said the outbreak is not expected to peak for several more weeks.

One in three people have not yet had their vital third dose of Covid vaccine.

People who have received three doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have 65 per cent greater protection against hospitalisation or death than those who have only had two.

“We’ll be hitting 11,000 deaths (since the start of the pandemic) this week,” Sydney University infectious diseases expert Professor Robert Booy said.

“There is good reason to do everything practical and sensible and doable — socially distancing, washing hands, working from home where possible.”

Professor Collignon said we know the elderly and immunocompromised are most at risk and should be concentrating on protecting them with vaccination and easier access to antiviral medication.

Originally published as The extra layer of protection you can wear to help against Covid infection in your eyes