Sir, – There has been much comment in recent days about reducing the spread of Covid-19 and the merits or otherwise of wearing face coverings or masks in public places where social distancing is not easily achieved, such as public transport and retail outlets.
It is clear that evidence for the benefits for wearing facemasks by the general public is at best inconclusive. It seems that for face coverings to be effective in infection control they require a series of measures that require a high level of consistent conscious behaviour that most of us are not used to as we go about our daily business.
For example, the wearer must not touch their face or the face covering with their hands; after removing it they should place it in a sealed bag and then wash their hands; it should be washed regularly, etc.
On the other hand, a transparent face shield is relatively cheap, reusable, more comfortable to wear, easily disinfected and unlike face coverings, offers protection to the wearer. It is not surprising that some experts have asserted that face-shields are more effective in terms of infection control than face-masks.
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If you are deaf or hard of hearing, a face-shield allows you to lip-read the wearer. One in six of us has some level of hearing loss and use lip-reading to support communication – either consciously or unconsciously! For those of us who don’t need to lip-read, a face-shield allows us to see a smile. The famous psychologist Albert Mehrabian estimated that 55 per cent of emotional communication is transmitted via facial expression. We are social beings, so seeing faces is crucial for communication and emotional wellbeing.
Given the above, the general public might be more likely to wear face shields, and on the basis of the available evidence, face shields might be as effective or more effective than face-masks.
Those deaf and hard of hearing people who rely on lip-reading for communication would certainly prefer this approach. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN LENNON,
Chime – the National
Charity for Deafness
and Hearing Loss,
North Frederick Street,
Dublin 1.
Sir, – Will one of those scientists demurring about the inappropriate wearing of masks please just show us what the appropriate way to wear them is before we have to drag Ryan Tubridy back from his holidays? – Yours, etc,
TRIONA FEENEY,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.