The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has issued an advisory regarding the use of face shields in the effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
According to the Head of Surveillance at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Asiedu Bekoe, face shields should be used together with a face mask and not as an alternative
Dr Bekoe stressed that face masks were the best way to prevent COVID-infections.
He explained that in instances that social distancing was not possible, face masks were ideal for preventing the virus from entering the body through the nose and mouth.
“For the purpose of addressing the challenge of infection. The first port of call is the face mask… We want to implore all Ghanaians that let’s use the face mask because that is the purest way that you can prevent yourself from getting infection.’
“If you wear the face shield, then it must be on top of a face mask but it should not be an alternative to the use of the face mask and I want to assure all Ghanaians that it is not for convenience that we are replacing face shields with face masks but it is for the purpose of preventing infections”.
Ghana medical Association and The West African College of Surgeons (Ghana Chapter) has also issued a press statement of the same topic cautioning the general on the use of face shields without masks. Read full statement below:
