(KTVI) — A new study reveals teenagers and young adults who vape, and smoke e-cigarettes are 5 to 7 times more likely to get COVID-19. The study from Stanford University School of Medicine not only were you more susceptible to the virus, but you have more complications from it.
People who vaped and smoked had more severe symptoms of cough, more fever, breathing issues, and were more tired.
A pulmonologist at SSM St. Joseph’s Health Center in St. Charles, Dr. Mohsin Ehsan tells Fox 2 how vaping affects the lungs. Nicotine and other chemicals damage the lungs. Vaping causes irritation to the upper airway, irritation to the lining of the lung, and makes people more susceptible to getting infections.
Coronavirus affects the upper airways as well and that is how it spreads. People who smoke or vape also tend to have longer ICU stays and are more at risk for dying from COVID.
Bottom line: Doctors say the perception that young people don’t get as sick with COVID as others simply aren’t true for the ones who vape.
Stanford University School of Medicine Study
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