Smoke 'em if you've got 'em...

[brooklynite]

The Economist

A quarter of French adults smoke. Many people were surprised, therefore, when researchers reported late in April that only 5% of 482 covid-19 patients who came to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris between February 28th and April 9th were daily smokers. The ratios of smokers to non-smokers in earlier tallies at hospitals in America, China and elsewhere in France varied. But all revealed habitual smokers to be significantly underrepresented among those requiring hospital treatment for the illness. Smokers, the authors of the report wrote, “are much less likely” to suffer severely from sars-cov-2, the virus that causes covid-19. Rarely, they added, is such a result seen in medicine.

[jberryhill]

1. IMHO it's that coating of goo on the interior of the lungs

[MineralMan]

2. It's possible that nicotine interferes with the virus's ability to

infect cells. It will be interesting to see if this result is duplicated elsewhere. At this point, it's just a supposition that there is a causal effect from smoking or nicotine.

[Wounded Bear]

3. I do believe I've read of studies of nicotine as a treatment...nt

[MineralMan]

7. I'll have to go look for those.

[jberryhill]

16. Naw... smokers just spend more time breathing through a filter

Kinda weird that people - including researchers - make the jump from "smokers" to "maybe nicotine" given that nicotine is merely one of hundreds of chemicals in cigarette smoke.

Formaldehyde would be a better guess, IMHO.

But having a protective coating of tar in the lungs might present a challenge for this infection.

[MineralMan]

28. Maybe. More research is probably needed, assuming there is

a real connection at all between smoking and less risk. I'm not sure that has been established firmly yet.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

29. Maybe there's a way to, you know, inject the tar and you'll check that out?

Or we could maybe get the Viceroys dentist to maybe shine a powerful light like through the skin or from inside the body while injecting scrapings from old ash trays and cigarette butts.

We really need this checked out on someone, I don't know, maybe orange and grotesque?


It is starting to look like this covid-19 came out of the Woody Allen "Sleeper" -- doctors are going to start recommending cigarettes again.

[Baclava]

4. Nicotine, the wonder drug! Vaping is its purest essence, none of those filthy tobacco byproducts

[PCIntern]

5. Absolutely! Start smoking/vaping now!

What have you got to lose?

[Baclava]

11. Hospitals and bars and restaurants should allow vaping immediately! No secondhand smoke

[MineralMan]

6. Nicorette gum would be a better choice.

Vaping isn't good for your lungs. Neither is smoking, of course.

In any case, there is no proof that nicotine protects anyone from COVID-19. There may be no cause and effect validity from this report. Or, there might. We will have to wait and see.

[Marrah_Goodman]

14. The gum doesn't get into the lungs

[jberryhill]

17. Maybe not the way you chew it, but...

[Marrah_Goodman]

26. LOL

[MineralMan]

27. That's true. However, if it is the nicotine that is having the effect,

distribution through the bloodstream would probably be more effective on the cellular level.

[Mossfern]

23. And it's extremely addicting!

[jberryhill]

13. With the hundreds of chemicals in tobacco, there is no reason to believe nicotine has any effect

It could simply be that the accumulation of tar in the lungs is inhospitable to the virus.

It's weird that people assume nicotine - merely one in a long list of chemicals in cigarettes - has anything to do with it.

Could be formaldehyde too.

[HarlanPepper]

15. I think it's the tar as well

In any case I’ve got enough in mine to build an offramp so I’m good to go.

[Baclava]

19. French researchers: "Nicotine appears to protect against coronavirus". It's science

[jberryhill]

20. But that headline is simply based on the same numbers

They did not isolate nicotine as being responsible for the observed numbers.

[Baclava]

25. and I just bought a $25 bottle of high nic vape juice that will last me 2 months, I feel, protected

[panader0]

8. Damn! I quit my life long tobacco habit 4 years ago.

I truly miss it and think of starting again all the time.
I hope cannabis has the same effect.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

9. "Chesterfield is my favorite."

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/222506037809771761/



Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/177470041552049756/

[uponit7771]

10. ***VERY*** Interesting data, wish we could hear from our CDC on this

[WhiskeyWulf]

12. Luckily, I just bought a carton yesterday. nt

[LisaL]

18. And if covid doesn't get you, lung cancer likely will.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

21. Yeah, it doesn't make you any healthier

I think healthy diet and exercise is still the best way to go. Avoid smoking and alcohol.

[LisaL]

22. Hey. Alcohol disinfects.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

24. Yeah, not the kind you can drink though :)

Alcohol can be fun sometimes, but I've been trying to keep it to just occasions like parties. Too many extra calories, plus hangovers make it hard to exercise the next day. I also notice it affects my mood for the next few days (depressant effect). I find that to be the worst thing about drinking alcohol for me. I am much better mentally if I stay away from it. It affects everyone differently of course.