‘Vaping Increases Covid-19 Risk’

The popularity of e-cigarettes is making young people more susceptible to coronavirus than would otherwise be the case, according to some experts.

New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that young people may be more impacted by COVID-19 than was initially thought, with patients under the age of 45 comprising more than a third of all cases, and one in five of those patients requiring hospitalization.

In an updated risk assessment, the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention included smokers among those potentially most vulnerable to COVID-19.

The agency cited a study by Chinese doctors which on a sample of 99 patients affected by the coronavirus found that acute smokers were more at risk of dying than elderly people.

Conventional cigarette smokers are likely to have more serious illness if they become infected with COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. Because vaping can also cause dangerous lung and respiratory problems, experts say it makes sense that the habit could aggravate the symptoms of COVID-19.