UK study shows no protective effect for Covid-19 from Smoking
Jackson SE, Brown J, Shahab L, et al. COVID-19, smoking and inequalities: a study of 53, 002 adults in the UK. Tobacco Control. Published Online First: 21 August 2020. “In this large survey of adults in the UK, current smoking was associated with 1.8 times higher odds of confirmed COVID-19 relative to never smoking, independent of age, sex, ethnicity, key worker status and comorbid health conditions. Authors conclude, ” …our data provide no evidence to support a protective effect of smoking, in contrast with data from several countries documenting substantially lower smoking prevalence among hospitalised patients with COVID-19 than would be expected based on population smoking prevalence.”
https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/tobaccocontrol/early/2020/08/20/tobaccocontrol-2020-055933.full.pdf