How E-Cigarette Users Are More Likely To Catch The Virus COVID-19

Some state and local governments have made

some pretty brash claims this week in regards

to COVID-19 and how e-cigarette users are

more likely to catch the virus than non-vapers,

but why? Find out more on this edition of

Ruthless Insider.

Hello and welcome to another edition of Ruthless

Insider. When it comes to COVID-19 there are

many different perspectives floating around,

but despite the strong number of skeptics

a good percentage of people are still stocking

up on toilet paper and cleaning supplies as

a direct reaction to the media. A working

theory links the harms of Coronavirus to the

damage done to the lungs from smoking cigarettes.

Michael Ryan, executive director of the W.H.O’s

Health Emergencies program, said on February

14th that higher rates of cigarette smoking

are a quote “Excellent hypothesis” for

why men seem to be more heavily impacted by

COVID-19 than women. The general rate of infection

from respiratory viruses is higher among smokers. And

while smoking hasn’t been definitively linked

to exacerbating COVID-19, for MERS—the respiratory

syndrome coronavirus first identified in

the Middle East in 2014—increased risk of

infection has been linked to smoking by a

multinational research team. While switching

smokers to risk-reduced nicotine products like

vapes would likely come too late to slow the

current spread of COVID-19, it is plausible—though

unproven—that large-scale switching would

significantly mitigate against future respiratory

viruses. The purported—also unproven—additional

risk for vapers compared with people who don’t

use nicotine sees harm reduction products

included in such messaging. At a press conference

on March 8th New York Mayor Bill de Blasio claimed

quote “If you are a smoker or a vaper, that

does make you more vulnerable. If you are

a smoker or a vaper this is a very good time

to stop that habit and we will help you.”

Another statement made by John Silvernail,

director of Pitt County public health department

in North Carolina explained quote “Smoking

or vaping doesn’t make you a bad person,

but it is bad for you. Furthermore, smoking

and vaping irritate your respiratory system,

potentially making it easier for infections

to invade your body.” The fast-developing

situation with COVID-19 requires public health

authorities to make decisions without the

benefit of substantial evidence, but balanced

communications are essential. The far more

predictable health harms of smoking continue

to contrast with the substantial relative benefits

of switching to risk-reduced nicotine products (of

which some, such as oral snus, have no known

respiratory impact). If that key message—already

denied by the WHO and many others—were

to be further obscured by stop-vaping calls

amid the COVID-19 crisis, there’s every

likelihood that it will further exacerbate

the harms of this outbreak.

Why do you think it is that these state representatives

have been so quick to speak out against vaping

with no research to back it up? Please share

your thoughts with us down below and as always

don’t forget to like, share, subscribe and

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all of our Ruthless content. This has been

Nick with Ruthless Insider, and we will see

you in the next video.