To wonder why they haven’t said anything about smokers?

[NailsNeedDoing]

It occurred to me, while I was having a cigarette, that I haven’t heard anything about how smokers are affected by covid, which seems a bit odd considering covid is a respiratory illness and we know how bad smoking is for lungs.

We’ve heard about all the other extra risk factors like obesity, age, ethnicity, living in an area of deprivation but unless I’ve missed it, I haven’t heard anything about smokers. Are they just not collecting that data or something?

And we need to find out what's going on with former smokers that puts them at higher risk than current smokers on most measures. The answer very obviously is not that they should start smoking again.

Nicotine reduces ards

I am between the devil and the deep blue sea on this.I have now got COPD caused by smoking loads when I was younger.If I started smoking again I will die of COPD very quickly, if I get covid I will die of it quickly as well because no one in their right mind will ventilate me.
I cannot afford to smoke so it will have to be covid then.

@nildesparandum

I am between the devil and the deep blue sea on this.I have now got COPD caused by smoking loads when I was younger.If I started smoking again I will die of COPD very quickly, if I get covid I will die of it quickly as well because no one in their right mind will ventilate me. I cannot afford to smoke so it will have to be covid then.

Of course you shouldn't start smoking again! If you get covid you will most likely have a mild to moderate illness and then recover, even with a risk factor like COPD, even as an ex smoker.

If you're worried you could get some nicotine patches to keep in your first aid kit, ready to use if you start becoming seriously unwell. They're very safe and are vanishingly unlikely to re-addict you to nicotine again.

When covid emerged last year, it scared me so much.

Reading this thread scares me more now. I used to be a smoker but I am 2 and half years, nearly 3 years off them. I used vaping as a way to get off the cigarettes. That worked. Then I naturally weaned myself off the vaping. I never intended to give up the vaping. It just happened. I am now 4 months vape and nicotine.

Reading here now in this thread that ex smokers are getting Covid bad.

I remember when I gave up smoking, I had months of being sick with coughing fits. Apparently that is common and it's the lungs clearly out smokers junk.

It is said that smokers are less likely to catch covid, but if they do they get it bad. Maybe the lungs are in a poor way there is little in the lungs for the virus to cling onto? The virus clings onto ace2 receptors in the body and lungs. Maybe smoking destroys them ace2 receptors. Maybe non smokers lungs are healing and maybe they are in a weaker state and the virus is stronger in weakened lungs. I don't know.

@MerinoFroggie

When covid emerged last year, it scared me so much.

Reading this thread scares me more now. I used to be a smoker but I am 2 and half years, nearly 3 years off them. I used vaping as a way to get off the cigarettes. That worked. Then I naturally weaned myself off the vaping. I never intended to give up the vaping. It just happened. I am now 4 months vape and nicotine.

Reading here now in this thread that ex smokers are getting Covid bad.

I remember when I gave up smoking, I had months of being sick with coughing fits. Apparently that is common and it's the lungs clearly out smokers junk.

It is said that smokers are less likely to catch covid, but if they do they get it bad. Maybe the lungs are in a poor way there is little in the lungs for the virus to cling onto? The virus clings onto ace2 receptors in the body and lungs. Maybe smoking destroys them ace2 receptors. Maybe non smokers lungs are healing and maybe they are in a weaker state and the virus is stronger in weakened lungs. I don't know.

Don't overthink it, someone mentioned on a thread a while ago a 95 years old with copd who recovers well and quickly from the virus.

Reading here now in this thread that ex smokers are getting Covid bad.

No, there is no evidence that ex smokers in particular are getting covid bad. Smoking status, whether current smoker, ex smoker or never smoker has just not shown up as a significant risk factor.

Everybody expected smokers to be hit hard by covid and when they weren't, some researchers got curious and started gathering data. That's the only reason this has shown up. It appears from the data we have so far that ex smokers may be at slightly higher risk but nothing compared with the other risk factors that have been identified.

We also don't know how many in the ex-smoker category are very recent, sudden ex-smokers who are still going through nicotine withdrawal. That's a risk factor that would be worth looking at because it ties in with the results of some studies that show current smokers do worse after they go into hospital.

I remember reading about it in march. It was that smokers were less likely to catch it perhaps due to nicotine but if you caught it worse prognosis due to less healthy lungs. Somewhere was trialing nicotine in healthcare workers, think it was France.