Smoking has always been said to be a high risk addiction with grave dangers to the health and well-being of an individual. A recent study by the U.S Food and Drug Administration reveals that cigarettes and nicotine increase the chances of getting infected by the COVID – 19 disease. The ones who do get infected also face the risk of more severe infections. However no details of how it affects a smoker have been released so far. With nearly 2.5 million positive cases worldwide and close to 171,000 deaths due to this deadly virus , there is an estimate that there are close to 1.1 billion people who fall in the smokers category and are at high risk. There are 41 million people who vape. These categories of people have been issued guidelines by the government on potential threats due to smoking.
Big players in cigarette manufacturing including Philip Morris International Inc. and Marlboro agree that people depend on medical professionals and health authorities for advice and quitting smoking altogether would be beneficial, since all tobacco products have an element of risk in them. They also mentioned that smoke free alternatives are available in the market as well as e cigarettes so even those alternatives could be explored.
The FDA mentions that our immune system gets compromised due to smoking and makes us prone to heart and lung diseases thereby increasing the chances of respiratory infections like the COVID-19. It also mentioned that if a person had underlying conditions pertaining to health in combination with being a smoker they would face very serious consequences related to COVID- 19 and the dangers would be immense.
Vaping exposes the lungs to toxic chemicals and although opinion is divided on whether it is less risky than smoking, it is amply clear that both vaping and smoking increase the risk of catching the COVID – 19 infection so it is always better to be safe than sorry !
