SMOKERS and Vapers are at a greater risk of dying from coronavirus

[TonyO]

(quotes taken from newspaper articles in the previous weeks)

The habit weakens the function of the lungs and could leave people more susceptible to the deadly bug, Smokers are more likely to get respiratory infections and have COPD and so be twice as likely to develop pneumonia. (COPD; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

There is certainly a respectable body of medical opinion that thinks serious outcomes are more likely among heavy smokers, basically any previous lung damage increases that risk, while no direct link had been established, smoking increased other conditions that do make Covid-19 worse.

Chief Medical Officer for England and Government adviser Prof Whitty said there would be ‘some risk of transmission’ from touching hand rails and hard surfaces for up to 72 hours, He added: ‘Just touching it will not give you the virus: it is if you touch it and then touch your face, having not washed your hands between them might be enough, ‘So, if you go on to the Tube and touch the rail, that’s fine, but just be aware of what you do with your hands afterwards.



Studies in China showed that being an older male is another coronavirus risk, with almost 10 per cent of infected men over the age of 60 suc***bing to the disease, men were also disproportionately affected during the SARS and MERS outbreaks - which were caused by similar coronaviruses. (Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars)

The reason why men are more susceptible to the disease is not fully understood but this has been the case in two previous coronavirus outbreaks - MERS and SARS where High rates of smoking have also been linked to more serious outcomes.

China has extremely high rates of COPD and it also has high rates of severe pneumonia. In this particular coronavirus 15 per cent of the Chinese population who have been infected have severe respiratory disease and many have died, in the rest of the world the disease doesn’t seem to be quite as bad, We don’t yet know why that is - it could be that the epidemic is later in its evolution in the rest of the world. But we do know that in China there are very high rates of smoking and COPD.


Dr Sanjay Agrawal, chair of the Royal College of Physicians’ Tobacco Advisory Group, said research showed that smokers were twice as likely to get pneumonia as non smokers, They are also more likely to get infections, the reason being that smoking will affect your defences so you’re susceptible to both viral and bacterial infections, He added that the current strategy for managing the disease was focused on containment and delay - if it takes a couple of months for Covid-19 to really take off in the UK, smokers who quit today would be less at risk from the disease when it eventually arrives, The bottom line is there’s never a bad time to quit. You’ll see benefits within days, weeks and months. … If you quit smoking today you will reduce your risk [of picking up the disease] and in two to three months you will benefit,” he said.

[TonyO]

Guardian April 1st, Lockdown just buys time without curing anything.

From Chinese data reported to the World Health Organization, we estimate that roughly 80% of people who contract the virus will not need medical attention and will have mild symptoms (largely children and people under 40); 14% will have severe disease including pneumonia; 5% will require critical care for respiratory failure, septic shock and multi-organ failure; and 1-2% will die regardless of medical care. Therefore, the challenge for the government (in the absence of a vaccine or treatment) is to ensure that healthcare capacity is not overwhelmed; that while the virus is transmitted throughout the population, the 19% who require either hospitalisation or an ICU bed are able to access that care and survive.

[TonyO]

Boris Johnson’s coronavirus adviser calls for a way out of lockdown

Saturday April 04 2020, 12.00am, The Times

Britain has “painted itself into a corner” with no clear exit strategy from the coronavirus epidemic and needs to reconsider herd immunity, according to a senior government adviser.

A prolonged lockdown risks causing more suffering than the virus itself, Graham Medley, the government’s chief pandemic modeller, has warned. He said that the country needed to face the trade-off between harming the young versus the old.

Professor Medley, a member of the key scientific body that is guiding the government’s response, told The Times that Britain must consider allowing people to catch the virus in the least deadly way possible rather than letting unemployment, domestic violence and mental ill health mount indefinitely.

He told the newspaper: "This disease is so nasty that we had to suppress it completely.

"Then we’ve kind of painted ourselves into a corner, because then the question will be what do we do now? We will have done three weeks of this lockdown so there’s a big decision coming up on April 13. In broad terms are we going to continue to harm children to protect vulnerable people, or not?”


The professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the UK should revisit the idea of herd immunity.

When the outbreak first began to grip Britain, it was suggested one way of beating the virus was to allow 60 per cent of people to get infected.

Herd immunity is when enough people become resistant to a disease that it can no longer spread among the rest of the population.

But the strategy was abandoned by the government after its scientific advisers said this would put the NHS under immense strain with critically ill patients.

Professor Medley - a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) - believes letting people return to work or reopening schools after lockdown will cause cases to spike.

He added: "The measures to control [the disease] cause harm.

"If we carry on with lockdown it buys us more time, we can get more thought put into it, but it doesn’t resolve anything — it’s a placeholder.”


It comes as the UK death toll yesterday overtook China and Iran's official tallies after 684 more people died, Based on figures released by both countries' governments, Britain's total death toll of 3,645 is now 319 higher than China (3326) where the outbreak started.

And the latest deaths put Britain higher than Iran's official death toll of 3,294.

The figures for both countries have been posted on the John Hopkins University website but their governments have been accused of hiding the true numbers of deaths.

The UK's peak is now expected to hit on Easter Sunday with around 1,000 deaths a day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned.

[traveller]

There is a report that all the ventilators are doing is to pressurise the lungs that are full of fluid causing further damage. The ventilators were meant for normal lungs that the were unable on their own to work ( brain damage etc ). Doctors are putting the ill on them in the hope in all hope that they will work. I am sure this will all come out once this is all over.

[maurice]

Here in Spain we are in total LD and we still have idiots going out and spreading the virus and we are still in the 8-900's a day dying from it.
This will happen to the uk in a couple weeks. The uk should listen and watch what is happening in Europe and have a total LD and not allow these
"Know it all's" to roam the streets causing more deaths, as seen in the past few days it is not an old fogey's virus any more.

[afterlife]

We have the same problem here in france. Every day at about 3pm to 5pm folks are fishing or riding there horses and generally going for a walk. It is the mindset of the french thats says nobody is going to stop me doing what i want to do.

[TonyO]

The refuseniks are in a small minority, 98% of the population are complying with measures to slow the onset of the virus down, there is no cure for this virus, all they are doing is buying more time so the medical services don’t get overwhelmed by one huge epidemic all at once.

The refuseniks are part of natural selection, they make a poor decision and their girlfriends or their wives kids and the rest of their family get it and there are less of them in the end, you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink !

Banning exercise on foot or bicycle on your own would tip me over the limit of what I am prepared to put up with, its the one physical outlet that allows me to live with these draconian measures, its like road humps, to stop 5% of speeders 95% of the population have to be punished for the sins of a few.

[afterlife]

If in the near future they show that this virus is air borne..Well was it a great idea to go walking each day. The virus goes from surface to surface.and only dies after about 4 hours. Seattle to san fransisco by car is 4 hours. london manchester 3 hours, Turin to milano 2.5 hours. new york washington 3 hours. What surprise me is how few people do see that doris trump is probally the most incompent person the usa could have in charge. Plus why is the world not seeing that the usa is yesterdays country,never to regain its status. I shall never return to visit it,and hope people do too many die because of its capatilise leader and family.

[echelon]

if there was ever a time to give up smoking , now is the time

my approx 50 year old m8 was told 15 years ago that if he did not quit smoking his prognosis was about 2 years tops
he is still alive 15 years later at the age of 65 and his lung tests showed he had cleared up most signs of smoking

he did have a mild heart attack last november however, but is being managed through medication

I havent smoked since I was about 14 and even then it was only about a fortnight , thank god that I put vinyl soul in front of burning my cash by smoking

MOTOWN , SOUL & NORTHERN SOUL have been the biggest lifelong addiction for me , KTF

[Detlef]

Up to about 38 years ago I was a 20/day smoker and a skier. Now I am just a skier.

As measured by my skiing, I would say my breathing is better now than when I smoked. Indeed I hasten to add that I doubt if I would still be alive if I hadn't given up.

Vaping may be less harmful to health than smoking (although I doubt that) but it is still harmful. There is a clear message here.

[TonyO]

Aircraft have probably added to the problem with poor air quality, the air in the cabin used to be continually replaced by taking fresh air from the engine intakes but that was found to be robbing power from the engines and using more fuel, so they recycled the same air back through the cabin again, germs and all, over and over again to save money.

Seems like they created a perfect breeding ground and transfer place for all sorts of diseases.