SMOKERS 14 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DEVELOP SEVERE CORONA VIRUS SYMPTOMS. GOOD SUPPORTS SUSPENDED SALES AS REDUCED SMOKING COULD HELP HEALTH SERVICES AND SAVE A LOT OF LIVES.
Mark Rountree, National Policy Officer for GOOD
7 April 2020
For anyone who becomes infected with the Corona virus, those who smoke are 14 times more likely to develop severe symptoms of the Corona virus than those who don’t smoke. These statistics have emerged from a recent study in China.
Smoking is identified as a key risk factor to developing severe symptoms of the Corona virus. Mark Rountree, the National Policy Officer for GOOD, says that “the South African government’s decision to suspend the sale of cigarettes should be supported as there is a chance that this action, by reducing smoking, can save many lives. Even if you are a smoker, stopping now can make a huge difference to your health within just a few days.”
The study, based on limited data from Corona patients and victims, was published in the Chinese Medical Journal, an official publication of the Chinese Medical Association. The results echo several other studies confirming higher risks for smokers and calls from international agencies to reduce smoking.
The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have both warned that smoking can exacerbate complications from COVID-19.
Public health specialists at the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease said governments around the world had a “moral imperative” to advise smokers to stop. They have advised that the best thing the tobacco industry can do to fight COVID-19 is to immediately stop producing, marketing and selling tobacco.
Stopping smoking can have almost immediate benefits. According to the UK’s National Health Service, after just 2 days of stopping smoking, all the carbon monoxide will have left your body and after just 3 days, breathing will become easier. Other health improvements take longer, but are significant. After 3 months, coughing, wheezing and breathing problems improve as lung function increases by about 10% and after a year of no smoking, the risk of heart disease for former smokers is halved.
Last year, GOOD was one of the few political parties to support South Africa’s draft Tobacco Control Bill. Rountree explains that “smoking is expensive and dangerous for the country at large. Already 1 in 5 teenagers and more than 1 in 20 children under the age of ten are smoking. The health problems smoking causes place a tremendous strain on the clinics and hospitals. “Illnesses caused by the tobacco-related illnesses, like lung cancer, emphysema, asthma and bronchitis, already cost South Africa almost R60 billion per year. And now we have the Corona virus to contend with on top of that.”
“The health costs of smoking is more than what was allocated to fund higher education in 2018 and nearly three times the increase in VAT to 15% raised for government. Those billions would have been better spent on keeping South Africans healthy and fed during this crisis.”
“Stop now” says Rountree. Save money, save yourself and get healthy.
ends