Furthermore, apart from 9‐O‐acetylated sialic acid, the other co‐receptors for coronaviruses (CD209, CD26, CD13, CD66e), have been found either in fibroblasts and dendritic cells that lie in tissue under the surface corneal and conjunctival epithelial cells, or have not been reported in ocular tissues. It is possible that the 9‐O‐acetylated sialic acid associated with proteins in tears can act as a decoy receptor, binding to the viruses and preventing them binding to cell‐associated 9‐O‐acetylated sialic acid. 44  Therefore, the evidence to date suggests that coronaviruses are unlikely to bind to ocular surface cells to initiate infection.