Bye-Bye Beards?

Quarantine is taking no-shave November to a whole new level. But can beards be hotspots for the coronavirus?  Before you grab your clippers, let’s grow through history!

Written and reported by Emily Sarah Sumner, PhD

References

1. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/3/30/21195447/beard-pandemic-coronavirus-masks-1918-spanish-flu-tuberculosis

2. Barbeito, Manuel S., Charles T. Mathews, and Larry A. Taylor. "Microbiological laboratory hazard of bearded men." Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 15, no. 4 (1967): 899-906.

3. Wakeam, E., R. A. Hernandez, D. Rivera Morales, S. R. G. Finlayson, M. Klompas, and M. J. Zinner. "Bacterial ecology of hospital workers' facial hair: a cross-sectional study." Journal of Hospital Infection 87, no. 1 (2014): 63-67.

4. https://historycooperative.org/a-short-history-of-beard-styles/

1. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf

1. Knopf, Sigard Adolphus. Tuberculosis as a Disease of the Masses and how to Combat it. The Survey, 1901.

2. https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/3/17/14939608/beard-popularity-economics