Visors leave hairdressers at risk of passing on virus, scientific advisers warn ministers
Government-endorsed shields ‘dodo not give proper protectionon without coveringg lower face’
HAIRDRESSERS and barbers could be transmitting Covid-19 to customers as a result of “inadequate” official guidance stipulating they should wear visors rather than masks, Government advisers have warned.
Scientists have expressed fears that the plastic face shields used by workers in salons give insufficient protection for the wearer and client because they leave a significant gap through which small airborne coronavirus droplets could pass.
In the NHS, S, visors are generally only used in addition ition to masks, as only the masks are specifically designed to cover the nose ose and mouth.
The Sunday Telegraph understands scientists raised aised concerns about the equipment worn by hairdressers and barbers in the latest meeting of The New and Emerging merging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory visory Group (Nervtag) on Friday, as well as in a meeting of at least one subcommittee mittee of the Scientific Advisory Group p for Emergencies (Sage).
Ministers are now facing calls from Sage and Nervtag ervtag scientists to require barbers and d hairdressers to wear masks or other her lower face coverings – either alone or with visors.
Swiss authorities thorities raised concerns about the use e of visors alone last month after an outbreak break among staff at a hotel. All of those hose who became infected had been wearing visors, while those who had been en wearing masks came out unscathed.
Professor Mark Wilcox, a professor of medical microbiology who attends Sage and two wo of its subcommittees, said: “I don’t t think the guidance is correct and I don’t on’t understand why visors were chosen n in preference to masks.
“We have, e, in several settings, discussed the issue ssue of masks versus visors and I think it t would be fair to say that I am not alone ne in these views. My colleagues both h in those settings and in other settings gs share my views.
“I’ve not come across somebody who has said d that visors are the best thing.”
Dr Ben Killingley, consultant in infectious diseases who sits on Nervtag, said: “I don’t know where it came from, where someone decided wearing a visor alone for hairdressers would be enough. That doesn’t make sense to me. A visor is primarily worn to protect workers from splashes. It does the same job as goggles, protecting the eyes. No healthcare worker would ever wear a visor without a mask.
“You would have thought for their own protection and just in case they have been infected themselves, they should be wearing a mask.
“In my view, to protect the hairdresser and the person coming in, just wearing a visor alone is not enough.”
Nervtag is understood to have discussed the issue after member Professor Peter Openshaw tweeted his concerns, having had his hair cut by a barber in a face shield. “His expelled breath and droplets were directed down on to me,” Prof Openshaw tweeted. “Zero protection, I’d say.”
He added that while his own mask provided protection against possible viral droplets, it would have failed to prevent “corneal seeding”, or Covid-19 particles entering his eyes.
On Friday, Boris Johnson expanded the number of venues at which members of the public will have to wear face coverings to include hair salons and barbers, along with museums, galleries, cinemas and places of worship wo for the first fifirst time from August 8. Dr Killingley cited a study in i the US which found no Covid-19 ca cases were reported among 139 cli clients exposed to two asymptom asymptomatic hair stylists in Missouri. Bot Both stylists wore surgical masks or o cotton face coverings at each appointment, as did their clien clients.
Prof Wilcox said the th study was “some of the best evidence e that I’ve seen to date validating v the usefulness of masks to prevent transmission of virus virus”. Dr Killingley, who sits on S Sage’s environmental working group, said he understood why visors were “attractive” to those in “custome “customer-facing” roles, because, unlike masks and coverings, they leave workers’ entire ent faces visible. They are also used by bym many bar and restaurant staff. staffff. But visors “are not as good a tool for stopping infectioni transmission” in a hair salon, salon he insisted.
Government advice to those providing “close contact services” states: s “It often may not be possible to maintain social distancing guidelines (2 (2m, or 1m apart with risk mitigation, is acceptable). As a result, personal protective p equipment in the form of a viso visor will be required to mitigate the risk.”
The NHBF, the trade body for hairdressers, beauty salons and barbers, states on its website: “Clients may m wear face coverings if they wish and a staff can wear a face covering in addition ad to a visor, but not instead of o one.” The NHBF said it relied on the Government Gov for advice about personal p protective equipment.
A government spokesman s said: “Advice for hairdressers rema remains unchanged and is that they should continue to wear visors.”