Plastic visors do not provide enough protection, say Swiss

PLASTIC visors fail to provide adequate protection from coronavirus infection and should only be worn in combination with a face mask, Swiss authorities have announced.

Health officials came to the conclusion after investigating an outbreak at a hotel in the canton of Graübunden. Several staff tested positive and they all wore plastic face shields, while those wearing face masks were unscathed. A guest was also infected.

Rudolf Leuthold, head of the Graübunden health department, said: “It has been shown that only those employees who had plastic visors were infected. There was not a single infection among employees with a mask.”

He told the Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten that the guest “was served by employees with plastic visors”.

On Tuesday, the Graübunden health authorities said plastic face shields did not work. Not only are they ineffective, but they may also provide wearers with a false sense of security, warned Dr Marina Jamnicki.

The Federal Office of Public Health has said that it, too, has found increased infections among people who wear face shields. “The visors do not serve as an alternative to hygiene masks. Visors can be worn with masks to further enhance your own protection,” spokesman Yann Hulmann told 20 Minuten.

The federal government says it is mulling amending the rules to make it compulsory for hospitality workers to wear face masks. Switzerland imposed a mask requirement on public transport on July 6, more than two months after they were made compulsory in most neighbouring countries. Masks are not compulsory in shops in Switzerland on a federal level. However, the cantons of Vaud and Jura unilaterally made them a requirement on July 6.

Switzerland registered 142 new infections in the past 24 hours, compared with 132 the previous day. There have been a total of 1,688 deaths so far.

♦ France will make the wearing of face masks compulsory in indoor public spaces from next week, the government said, as officials noted signs of an uptick in the coronavirus outbreak. Masks are already obligatory on public transport.

‘The visors do not serve as an alternative to hygiene masks. They should only be worn with face masks’