# Covid-19 and quitting smoking **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [April 14, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763 "2020-04-14T13:43:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/1 "2020-04-14T13:43:53Z")
Anyone quit smoking to lower your risk? Or know someone who did? I’m just wondering, because with all the paranoia, masking, and TP hoarding, I still see the hands dangling out of open car windows on 33 degree days, with the burning cigarettes. Seems to me that quitting smoking would lower your risk a lot more than wearing a mask. Especially if you are like the guy I saw recently, pulling down his mask for a smoke break, then pushing it back up :smack:. I know it hard to quit, but a lot of things about this are hard, and people can get over a lot of mountains when they are panicked. So, just wondering. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/2 "2020-04-14T13:45:53Z")
A panic doesn’t help people quit smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/3 "2020-04-14T14:03:18Z")
I’m so glad I quit last year, before all this shit. I will have a year smoke-free on May 19th. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/4 "2020-04-14T14:06:57Z")
There are many dangers apparent with smoking, this is just another. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/5 "2020-04-14T14:11:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A panic doesn’t help people quit smoking. Heh, yeah. My gf brought up my cannabis vaping and smoking, asking if I’d consider stopping. My answer was, “no”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/6 "2020-04-14T14:21:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A panic doesn’t help people quit smoking. I don’t smoke, and never have, but both of my parents have been smokers since they were teens. Both of them have quit in the past (sometimes for several years at a stretch), but when life has gotten stressful, they’ve gone back to smoking. I imagine that that’s exactly why people are still lighting up now. Plus, I might guess, an attitude of, “well, hell, I’ve already done the damage from years of smoking – it’s not like stopping now is going to make a difference.” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/7 "2020-04-14T14:29:02Z")
I thought about it for like 2 seconds then ended up smoking more out of boredom. I just smoke at home. Stay away from the virus and all that. Congratulations to you **Dolores Reborn**!!! Well done!! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/8 "2020-04-14T15:09:10Z")
[CDC: “Tobacco-Related Mortality”](https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/index.htm) - Cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths in the United States each year.1,6 Cigarette smoking is estimated to cause the following: More than 480,000 deaths annually (including deaths from secondhand smoke) 278,544 deaths annually among men (including deaths from secondhand smoke) 201,773 deaths annually among women (including deaths from secondhand smoke) Cigarette smoking causes premature death: Life expectancy for smokers is at least 10 years shorter than for nonsmokers. Quitting smoking before the age of 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90%.\* If people are ignoring those mortality statistics (which are at the high end of what is currently expected for COVID-19 deaths) why would you think they’ll stop smoking during a pandemic? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/9 "2020-04-14T17:04:56Z")
All of the research I’ve seen on COVID-19 has suggested that, if anything, smoking is slightly protective. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covid-19-and-quitting-smoking/851763/10 "2020-04-14T17:11:19Z")
> **[2020.04.08.20057794v1.full.pdf](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.08.20057794v1.full.pdf)** > > 330.78 KB > [@](#): > > Surprisingly, though some have speculated that high rates of smoking in China explained some of the morbidity in those patients, we did not find smoking status to be associated with increased risk of hospitalization or critical illness. This is consistent with a handful of other studies that have previously shown a lack of association of smoking with pulmonary disease associated ARDS (i.e. from pneumonia), as compared with non-pulmonary sepsis-associated ARDS.2