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global1

(25,166 posts)
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 11:31 AM Jul 2020

Is Covid Spread Through Cigarette Smoke?.....

I don't think I've ever heard this addressed when health experts talk about Covid and spread.

When I was giving people an example of how a virus aerosolizes - I always used the example of how smoke fills a space when a person smokes. In my mind it was an easy concept for people to grasp because they can see the smoke fill the area. I would say - imagine when you exhale - the virus which you cannot see - is the smoke.

Usually that example got through to people and they had a better understanding of how a virus is spread through aerosolization. This is how I convinced people - in the early beginnings of the talk of this virus - why it was important to wear a mask.

However, I never once put smoking and virus being exhaled from a person - together.

This morning as I watched the news on the nations new hotspots for the virus - somehow I got to thinking about people that smoked and asked myself the question:

Does the virus somehow link itself to cigarette smoke and when a person has a cigarette - does it aerosolize by combining with the cigarette smoke that people exhale?

Has this been addressed? Has anyone heard any reports of Covid being spread by cigarette smoke?

If you have any info on this - please post here.

22 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Is Covid Spread Through Cigarette Smoke?..... (Original Post) global1 Jul 2020 OP
I don't think anyone has really studied that, actually. MineralMan Jul 2020 #1
common sense connection to smoking and covid 19 Jersey Devil Jul 2020 #2
Obviously - I'm Not A Complete Idiot That I Don't Realize You Can't Smoke With A Mask On..... global1 Jul 2020 #4
Smoking and Covid only affects those without a sense of humor Jersey Devil Jul 2020 #11
It's serious to folks. Get over it. LakeArenal Jul 2020 #14
Smokers 5 times less likely to contract covid 19 but twice as likely to die. OregonBlue Jul 2020 #7
There was some info out of France a couple months ago when they were hard hit captain queeg Jul 2020 #3
That Would Be Interesting To Follow-Up On.... global1 Jul 2020 #5
At the time, I was speculating it was due to the behavioral fact that smokers... Hugin Jul 2020 #9
There was also the gender difference... Hugin Jul 2020 #6
On a side note the stats show that 73,500 die from smoking related illnesses in France each year CentralMass Jul 2020 #10
I googled it Lulu KC Jul 2020 #8
It is still a combination of air and smoke 2naSalit Jul 2020 #12
Maybe because smoker's lungs are less hospitable to the virus zonemaster Jul 2020 #13
When you exhale, you spread respiratory droplets. roamer65 Jul 2020 #15
Maybe it's a factor in a "partying" atmosphere where there's not much air circulation FakeNoose Jul 2020 #16
That's a possibility. I think often statistics don't look at other factors captain queeg Jul 2020 #17
Actually, Good Statisticians Do Exactly That ProfessorGAC Jul 2020 #18
I agree a good study should factor stuff like that in captain queeg Jul 2020 #19
Possibly! ProfessorGAC Jul 2020 #21
Vapers scare me the most Generic Brad Jul 2020 #20
Yeah I'd think that is especially bad. We've all been behind a car with someone captain queeg Jul 2020 #22

MineralMan

(146,189 posts)
1. I don't think anyone has really studied that, actually.
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 11:33 AM
Jul 2020

However, most smokers, including myself, do not smoke around others in any case. Smoking is prohibited indoors in public places, just about everywhere.

I don't think it's really a major factor, frankly.

global1

(25,166 posts)
4. Obviously - I'm Not A Complete Idiot That I Don't Realize You Can't Smoke With A Mask On.....
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 11:54 AM
Jul 2020

That wasn't the question I asked in my OP. What I did ask was:

When a person smokes and they blow smoke into the air - does the Covid virus somehow combine with the exhaled smoke and does it aerosolize into the air along with the smoke?

captain queeg

(10,035 posts)
3. There was some info out of France a couple months ago when they were hard hit
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 11:54 AM
Jul 2020

Anecdotal, not anything rigorous, but doctors there noticed a much lower incidence of infections amongst smokers which was surprising. (Higher percentage of the population there smokes) They postulated that nicontene might somehow deter the disease. It seemed significant enough that actually studied might be made but I haven’t heard anything
I just checked and it doesn’t sound like there is good evidence for nicotine therapy.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-nicotine-therapy-coronavirus-evidence-weak.html

Hugin

(32,773 posts)
9. At the time, I was speculating it was due to the behavioral fact that smokers...
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 12:01 PM
Jul 2020

Tend to social distance whether due to ordinance or convention of not blowing smoke in each other's faces.

The smoking factor was considered significant enough there were reports that French health care workers were being issued nicotine patches. I haven't seen any follow-ups.

Hugin

(32,773 posts)
6. There was also the gender difference...
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 11:57 AM
Jul 2020

I haven't heard much about that lately. It would seem it's all fallen away to the mask controversy and rush to open-er-up.

2naSalit

(86,037 posts)
12. It is still a combination of air and smoke
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 12:35 PM
Jul 2020

that has been inside the lungs which makes sense that it could be carried along with exhaled smoke. I don't see why it wouldn't be included in the smoke if the smoker were infected. Just because a likelihood of smokers not getting does not mean that they don't get infected at all. Since testing is so skimpy here, I would consider any possibilities valid.

zonemaster

(230 posts)
13. Maybe because smoker's lungs are less hospitable to the virus
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 01:22 PM
Jul 2020

Not someplace I'd want to venture if I were an up-and-coming virus. There's some toxic stuff in there left by cigarette smoke.

Re: the smoke and virus spread. The size of a cigarette smoke particle and a COVID virus are in roughly the same ballpark. Whatever physical processes are involved in enabling you to be able to smell someone else's exhaled smoke would, to a first order, make it just as easy for you to inhale any of their exhaled COVID virus. I'd think the virus would hang around in the air just like cigarette smoke does. Given that, I would not stand anywhere but upwind of strangers.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
15. When you exhale, you spread respiratory droplets.
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 01:47 PM
Jul 2020

Doesn’t matter the exhalation reason.

So, yes...it could spread it.

Think of how smoky a closed room gets with smokers. That gives one a perfect idea of the droplet spread in a closed space.

FakeNoose

(32,328 posts)
16. Maybe it's a factor in a "partying" atmosphere where there's not much air circulation
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 02:00 PM
Jul 2020

For example a crowded bar where smoking is allowed, or inside someone's private home. Crowded beaches, casinos maybe, strip joints - you might be onto something.

However most public buildings don't allow smoking. Secondly an already infected person probably wouldn't have much urge to smoke (that's my guess).

ProfessorGAC

(64,413 posts)
18. Actually, Good Statisticians Do Exactly That
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 06:43 PM
Jul 2020

Good statistical modeling requires determining the leverage of all reasonably probable factors have on the results.
Sometimes we don't hear about those factors because the model indicates the leverage is no higher than random chance.
To publish the findings of all the things that don't really matter would make said report unreadable.
Not saying this happened here, but if it was tested, and couldn't be established as a meaningfully causative factor, we'd never read about it.

captain queeg

(10,035 posts)
19. I agree a good study should factor stuff like that in
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 06:55 PM
Jul 2020

Not sure that always happens. Especially with life style choices; if they are relying on some to self report I’m not sure they’d always get good data. People could be embarrassed to tell something or really are fooling their selves about some things.

ProfessorGAC

(64,413 posts)
21. Possibly!
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 07:35 PM
Jul 2020

Especially in the case of smoking, I suppose.
But, I know some smokers and they don't pretend they are not. Even to their doctors.
So, if some COVID patients were smokers, out of 3 million cases, we'd probably have a large enough dataset to model with that as a factor.
14% of Americans are smokers. Assume half of that are among the 3 million. We get 210,000 smokers.
If only 10% are honest about being a smoker, we've got 21,000 people in the entire dataset to use as a factor.
All that said, not sure the analysis would extrapolate to smoke being a cause. But, it's not impossible.

Generic Brad

(14,270 posts)
20. Vapers scare me the most
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 07:05 PM
Jul 2020

I can smell the vape way before the visible vapor comes my way even when we are separate by yards. If asymptomatic, their spread must be huge.

captain queeg

(10,035 posts)
22. Yeah I'd think that is especially bad. We've all been behind a car with someone
Mon Jul 6, 2020, 08:04 PM
Jul 2020

Expelling a vapor cloud. Large volume, high velocity. Sure looks like the perfect storm

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