These Newborns Are Getting Baby-Sized Face Shields To Protect Them From COVID-19

If safety comes first, cuteness definitely comes second when it comes to a few precious photos coming out of Thailand during the coronavirus pandemic.

Several of the nation’s hospitals are sharing photos of newborns being outfitted in tiny face shields to protect them from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Getty images uploaded a few photos by Lillian Suwanrumpha taken at Praram 9 Hospital in Bangkok on Thursday. The photos, taken in the maternity ward, show nurses in surgical masks cradling newborns wrapped in blankets and sporting itty-bitty plastic visors that make the children look like miniature welders.

In a statement on Facebook, translated by Buzzfeed News, Praram 9 Hospital said that the masks were being used “because safety is what we care about the most.” The statement also noted that the translucent shields are designed to block sneeze and cough droplets from reaching the babies’ faces. 

Paolo Hospital in the Samut Prakan province also posted adorable photos of babies in their delivery ward decked out in Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). 

“We have extra protection measures for little ones and friends, with face shield for newborns. So cute!” the hospital wrote on its Facebook post, translated by Mashable SE Asia. “Congratulations to all mothers and dads.”

The New York Post also compiled some footage of babies in a hospital in Samut Prakan protected by face shields topped with little crowns (In the video atop this story). 

The visors are an effort to give new parents at these hospitals “peace of mind,” reports BBC Thailand, as translated by Buzzfeed.

According to the outlet, the masks are meant to help parents transport infants from the hospital to their home. They are not meant to be worn all the time and could become unhygienic for the newborns.

As of Friday, Thailand had reported more than 2,400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and at least 33 deaths, according to the country’s ministry of public health.