Thought of the Day - September 17 - Eyeglasses

Over the past months there have been a number of observations made concerning those most likely to have severe symptoms from COVID-19. The most obvious are: underlying medical conditions and age, but there are many more: blood type, ethnicity, gender etc. The challenge is to distinguish the difference between the parameter quoted and associated lifestyle.

Just in case you missed the recent article from JAMA Ophthalmology. They concluded "hospitalized COVID-19 patients were less likely to wear glasses than the average population". All I can say is while I got cataract surgery years ago, which also alleviated my need for prescription lenses, I have the same eyes and so guess I still have myopia. So I guess I'm good.

But actually causal analysis concerning eyeglasses has yet to be done. Thinking about this a little, it is unlikely to be your eyes themselves but rather:

1. Genetic differences that make people predisposed to conditions like myopia;

2. or (and unfortunately, this gets my vote) Glasses provide a degree of protection, lowering the viral dose of SARS-CoV-2 entering through the eyes.

Cheers

Cliff