Thursday, February 25, 2021

Another from the "too good to be true" department

I imagine many of us saw the news story about a study suggesting that glasses wearers were less susceptible to contracting COVID-19 than those who don't wear glasses. As someone who wears bifocals, and hence is bespectacled from the moment I get up until the moment I go to sleep, I really wanted to believe that were true. As with so many claims of this type it isn't. A self-selected small sample of in-patients does not lend much confidence to the claim. Short of just getting one of the vaccines once it is made available to you, about all you can do is mask up, wash your hands (a lot) and keep hand sanitizer available for when soap and water are not readily available, physically distance as much as possible, and open the windows when feasible. Let's stick to what's realistic, and be thankful that the vaccines that are now circulating appear to work. We're going to live with this particular coronavirus for a good long time, it appears, but at least if we do what we can to prevent catching and spreading it, we will get to a point where it can be easily contained and treated, and whatever normality becomes in the 2020s can begin.