NADHIM’S FACE SHIELD IS TOTALLY USELESS TOO
ANOTHER bone of contention for scientists is the face visor, or face shield – worn by hairdressers and beauticians almost everywhere after the easing of the first lockdown.
Now even Government Ministers are adopting them.
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi chose to wear one instead of a mask while he was injected with his first Covid-19 vaccine earlier this month.
But experts have long warned that the plastic visors are virtually useless.
Last summer, scientists raised concern following an outbreak in a Swiss hotel. The infected hotel workers had all been wearing visors, but those who wore face masks in communal areas remained Covid-free.
At the time, Yann Hulman, a spokesman for Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health, said visors ‘do not serve as an alternative to masks’. In fact, Mr Zahawi’s choice of protective face gear was directly against his own Government’s advice on masks and visors.
Official guidance states face visors must not be worn instead of a mask, but ‘in addition’ to one. This is because visors fail to filter out viral particles that circulate in the air – the most common way in which Covid spreads is via inhalation.
Professor Julian Tang, a virologist at the University of Leicester, agrees. ‘It is very easy for virus particles to escape out the sides and underneath of a visor,’ he says. ‘It is better than nothing, but I would say they do very little to protect you or others around you.’
Mr Zahawi, who in January said that the Government was ‘concerned’ about the lack of mask-wearing in supermarkets, declined to comment.