Smokers More Likely to Get Infected, Together with the losses the COVID-19 pandemic is causing, it has also shifted people’s and health agencies’ attention to the much-appreciated health issues caused by smoking and vaping.
The number of people who smoke or vape has remarkably increased in the past two years. Until now, it had been a very well known yet immensely ignored fact that smoking poses great risks of lung-related health complications to people. Passive smokers or second-hand smokers too lie in zones of high chances of being affected due to this. And now, the presently streaming pandemic, COVID-19 is more likely to be after the lives of smokers and the ones who vape.
The U. S. FDA in its earlier reports said smokers might be at risk to face severe health consequences from coronavirus but had not been clear about any further revelations on the same.
And in a recent Bloomberg report, it revised its statement to say that smoking can elevate the chances of being infected with the disease and developing complications tied to COVID-19.
The agency, as quoted in the Bloomberg report, Smokers asserted: “People who smoke cigarettes may be at increased risk of infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 and may have worse outcomes from COVID-19”.
Multiple research agencies across the world are still trying to figure out various environment-related, physiological, and biological causes that might bring about an acceleration in the spread of novel coronavirus.
The connection between vaping, smoking, and coronavirus was observed during the initial breakout in Wuhan, China. It was seen that out of all deaths caused by a coronavirus in China, 6.3% of the casualties had Smokers an underlying respiratory disorder as opposed to 2.3% who didn’t have any.
The world’s estimated population of 1.1 billion who smokes and 41 million who vape have been advised to cut down on smoking from public health agencies.
Initially, vaping was seen as a safer alternative to smoking, which changed over time as teenagers who vaped were being diagnosed with a peculiar lung infection. The FDA then revised its guidelines limiting the sale and use of vaping devices.
Risks involved with vaping and smoking Smokers include a negative impact on the brain leading to memory loss and low information retention capability, adverse effects on defense system of lungs, and reduced immunity of the respiratory system, thereby exposing the lungs to oddities of the environment.
As COVID-19 itself is a respiratory disease as its name Smokers suggests (SARS COV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome) poses a greater threat to individuals already struggling with other respiratory illnesses. The virus’s viral strain directly influences the lungs, reducing its capacity and limiting oxygen intake which potentially leads to pneumonia. It is especially deadly to people with a history of respiratory illness and is thus better advised to withdraw themselves from their smoking routines at the time of pandemic as it makes individuals more prone to the complexities of the infection.
