Can you catch coronavirus from secondhand smoke? Here’s what doctors say
Health officials have long warned that the novel coronavirus spreads primarily through respiratory droplets expelled from the coughs and sneezes — and even breathing — of infected individuals.
But doctors are poking at a question that has yet to be investigated: can secondhand smoke aid in the spread of COVID-19? Experts don’t know if smoke makes the virus travel greater distances, but they do believe that potentially infected respiratory droplets are not only expelled with each cough, but also carried in each exhale of cigarette or vape smoke.
This means that if you can smell the smoke, you might be in a coronavirus danger zone, doctors say.
“If you happen to have COVID-19, those droplets will be completely coated in that COVID virus, and when you exhale that vape [or cigarette] ... you are going to release a significant amount of respiratory droplets,” Dr. Herman Gatzambide, a pulmonary specialist focusing on advanced lung disease at Health Central Hospital in Florida, told WESH.
“If I walk next to you and you say that perfume smells amazing, you and I were just close enough for you to get my COVID-19,” Gatzambide said. “Why? Because if you’re able to smell my perfume, you were close enough to take my droplets.”
Smokers also exhale with more force than someone not engaged in the activity. Gatzambide said to picture the droplets as cannonballs.
“[Smokers’] cannonballs carry more weight, almost like more black powder, so if it’s six feet on passive, it could be 10 or 12 feet on someone who’s smoking,” he told the outlet.
California thoracic surgeon Dr. Osita Onugha also said “it’s plausible to presume that a plume of smoke, which is comprised of respiratory droplets, can result in COVID-19 transmission,” according to Health.
Despite the many unknowns surrounding secondhand smoke and the coronavirus, doctors point to one fact: People must take off their face masks to light up.
“Since the novel coronavirus is spread via direct person-to-person contact, activities that include being in close contact (less than six feet) without a mask on should be avoided, which includes secondhand smoke,” Dr. Julie Lyou, a pulmonologist with St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California, told Health.
“The act of smoking requires the person to take off the mask, so this is considered a high-risk environment for anyone in the vicinity.”
Although there’s no safe distance away from smokers — as you may have experienced when a smell lingers long after walking past a cloud — experts suggest always wearing a face mask when outside in public.
“Not only are they potentially spreading virus by not wearing a mask, they are blowing those droplets to the people around them to potentially get infected,” Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, told the Associated Press.
But it’s the smokers themselves who have a greater disadvantage, research has shown.
A study revealed that one in three young adults between 18 and 25 years old are “medically vulnerable” to severe COVID-19 because of their smoking and vaping habits, rather than underlying health conditions, McClatchy News previously reported.
A separate, more recent paper showed that vaping nicotine gave 13- to 24-year-olds a “substantially increased” risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus and coming down with unpleasant symptoms.
While it’s possible secondhand smoke can help spread the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that plumes coming from cigarettes contain more than 7,000 toxic chemicals, about 70 of which can cause cancer.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Can you catch coronavirus from secondhand smoke? Here’s what doctors say."
