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 Vaping is not just a small risk for coronavirus

On Tuesday, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine published a study which may confirm the fears of parents and doctors across the nation. Vaping is not just a small risk for coronavirus. Among teens and young adults who were tested, those who had used e-cigs were five to seven times more likely to be infected than non-users.

“We were surprised,” said Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, professor of pediatrics at Stanford University and the study’s senior author. “We expected to maybe see some relationship …. but certainly not at the odds ratios and the significance that we’re seeing it here.”

The study is the first national population-based look at connections between vaping and coronavirus in young people, based on surveys of over 4,351 participants ages 13 to 24 from all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories. Among tested participants, young people who had ever used e-cigs were five times more likely to be diagnosed with coronavirus, while those who had used both e-cigs and regular cigarettes within the previous 30 days were 6.8 times as likely to be diagnosed with the disease.

“This is yet another piece showing that e-cigarettes are harmful to our health, period,” said Halpern-Felsher.

There could be several reasons for vapers’ heightened transmission risk. E-cigarettes can damage lungs and alter the immune system, making each coronavirus exposure more likely to trigger an infection, experts say. It is also possible that the aerosol emitted from e-cigarettes could have droplets containing coronavirus, Halpern-Felsher said, which could then be spread to another person or re-inhaled into one’s lungs. Many vaping social norms — hand-to-mouth contact, passing e-cigs between friends — are also high-risk pandemic behavior. It’s hard to exhale a cloud of smoke with a mask on.

More research is needed to understand the medical relationship between coronavirus and vaping, experts say. But the risk is clear, even when variables like race, sex, state COVID-19 rates and compliance with shelter-in-place orders are taken into account. The researchers say they hope these findings will prompt regulators to toughen regulations on these devices. Vaping is no longer just a personal risk, the study shows, but also a public health risk.

“Using e-cigs is sort of like the anti-mask,” said Dr. Jonathan Winickoff, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and MassGeneral Hospital for Children. “If we can control vaping in youth, we’ve gone part of the way in helping curb the pandemic.”

Widespread concern for teen vapers

Sophia Beerel, one of Winickoff’s patients, was 14 when she took her first hit of an e-cigarette — a candy-sweet head rush with no warnings and seemingly few consequences. It started with an impulsive hit of a classmate’s device during a science class bathroom break.

“I knew it was more than water,” said Beerel, now 16. “I knew it was a type of juice. I wasn’t aware to the extent of how much nicotine was in it. I didn’t even know what nicotine was at that point.”

“I was like, whatever… better than cigarettes,” she continued. “That’s what people were saying.”

So began a multi-year battle with nicotine addiction. She ignored her parents’ “nicotine talk” and lit candles at home to mask the smell of her exhales. At 15, she tried to quit and felt sick with withdrawal symptoms like jitters, nerves and shakes. It was only when she lost her luggage stocked with pods during a five-week vacation that she was forced to quit cold turkey.