The research also revealed that a further 60% admitted carrying on with their habit despite knowing smokers have suffer from more severe Covid symptoms, while 18% of smokers cut down after hearing of the increased risks. However 23% were unaware of any increased danger. On the other hand, a total of 22% revealed they were now smoking up to 20% more than before the pandemic, and about 41% said their smoking had remained the same.
The relationship between smoking and COVID-19
Meanwhile, a study conducted in a large French university hospital, between March and April 2020, looking for a possible correlation between daily smoking and the susceptibility of contracting the SARS-CoV-2 infection, had indicated that the daily smokers’ rate amongst COVID-19 patients was at 5.3%, whilst within the general French population, the rate of daily smokers rate was of 25.4%.
These findings had led the researchers concluding that daily smokers have a significantly lower probability of developing symptomatic or a severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, when compared to the general population.
Less smokers than non-smokers among COVID-19 patients
In line with this, when renowned anti-smoking researcher Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos and two colleagues, analyzed data coming out of China, they found that there were significantly less smokers among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Similarly, another review of the Chinese data published in the European Journal of Internal Medicine concluded that “active smoking does not apparently seem to be significantly associated with enhanced risk of progressing towards severe disease in COVID-19.”
University of Waterloo: COVID-19 Didn’t Spark More Smoking During Its Initial Stages
