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At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, smokers may have thought they had little to worry about, as there was a sliver of good news for them: a study circulating on social media suggested smoking could be associated with a lower risk of contracting COVID-19.
Several recent reports seem to debunk this claim. A study done by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco analysed more than 11,000 COVID-19 patients and found that about 30% had a history of smoking and saw their conditions progress to a more severe or critical state. Meanwhile, 17.6% of non-smoking patients saw an increase in symptom severity. The study concluded that “smoking is a risk factor for progression of COVID-19”, and smokers are nearly twice as likely to develop severe symptoms.
Previous reports had gained attention for suggesting that the number of smokers who became infected with COVID-19 was far smaller than the number of non-smokers. Dr David Christiani, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, believes many of those early publications were rushed, and the studies were not well-designed. Smoking is in no way beneficial to lung health – in fact, it probably only increases the probability of infection.
Dr Christiani went on to say: “Tobacco products cause inflammation in the airways and affect lung immunity, which makes people more susceptible to infection in general.” As a result, the severity of symptoms and the likelihood of death are much worse among smokers who test positive for COVID-19, said Dr Michael Siegel, a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.
Smoking may be detrimental to one’s own health – but it also works against community efforts to contain the spread of the virus. Smokers typically will not have masks on, and regardless of how much social distancing they do, the smoke particles that they exhale could get picked up by wind currents.
Source: The Guardian, 24 July 2020
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Government plans to boost levels of walking and cycling after the coronavirus crisis is under threat from a minority of objectors, whose views do not represent the opinions of many Britons, a pro-cycling campaign has claimed.
Research carried out for the BikeIsBest organisation found 77% of Britons would support changes in their local area to encourage more cycling and walking. The new figure from a YouGov survey also found that about 65% of people said they wanted streets redesigned to protect pedestrians and cyclists. It found 51% would cycle more if this happened, while 33% said they would drive less if street layouts were changed.
Dozens of cities and other councils across the UK have introduced temporary schemes to try and encourage walking and cycling, after encouragement from Downing Street and the Department for Transport to help reduce motor traffic levels when fewer people can use public transport because of the coronavirus. The changes have led to some vocal protests, prompting some councils to back down. A Guardian analysis this month found six areas – Ealing, Wandsworth, South Gloucestershire, Trafford, Portsmouth, and Surrey – where funded cycle routes had been cancelled. Several subsequent schemes have faced intense protests from relatively small groups of residents, and others, who have set up websites and energetic social media feeds seeking to argue locals do not support the plans.
Dr Ian Walker, an environmental psychologist at the University of Bath and a leading researcher on attitudes to cycling, said: “Perhaps one reason negative voices find it so easy to sway things their way is that people have a tendency to misjudge public levels of support. The survey showed that, while most people think Britain would be a better place if more people cycled, they also guessed that other people were less supportive, and more hostile, to the idea than they were.”
Source: The Guardian, 23 July 2020
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Every year, smoking claims 1,300 lives in Derbyshire, and a further 1,400 children in the county take up smoking. Under the banner of Today is the Day, campaign group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is calling for smokers to protect themselves from smoking-related diseases and increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
Derbyshire County Council supports the campaign. Councillor Carol Hart, the cabinet member for health, said: “We are working hard to encourage people to give quitting a go. Our Live Life Better Derbyshire healthy lifestyle service can support smokers through their attempt to quit, with expert advice and medications to deal with cravings.”
According to an analysis by ASH and University College London, since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, about 44,010 smokers in the East Midlands have quit smoking. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH, said: “This campaign is designed to encourage those who’ve not yet succeeded, to wake up and decide today is the day to stop smoking.”
Source: Ripley and Heanor News, 22 July 2020
See also: Today is the today
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The Union Health Ministry on Thursday (23 July) notified new sets of specified health warnings with an enhanced pictorial health warning to be printed on all tobacco products. The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Third Amendment Rules, 2020 will come into effect from 1 December. It amends the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008.
All tobacco products manufactured or imported or packaged on or after 1 December 2020 shall display the first set of pictorial warning, while the second set of pictorial warning will be displayed by the tobacco products manufactured or imported or packaged on or after 1 December 2021, the health ministry said in a statement.
The health ministry also warned that “Violation of the provision mentioned above is a punishable offence with imprisonment or fine as prescribed in Section 20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003.”
Source: The Economic Times, 23 July 2020
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On Wednesday 22nd July 2020, the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Smoking and Health hosted a virtual roundtable event to discuss the action needed to secure the Government’s ambition for England to be smokefree by 2030. The Public Health Minister Jo Churchill MP and Shadow Public Health Minister, Alex Norris MP, spoke in support of the importance of working cross-party to deliver this ambition.
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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