[imagesource:here]

When President Ramaphosa announced the sale of alcohol under alert level 3 in his address on Sunday, smokers assumed that the announcement to follow would see the tobacco sales ban lifted as well.

The collective rage felt by smokers was expressed perfectly by this auntie when she heard the bad news.

The decision was made despite petitions, strident calls from the tobacco industry to lift the ban, concerns raised by SARS over the massive loss in tax revenue, and the growing illegal trade of cigarettes.

Read this for a breakdown of what is and is not allowed under alert level 3.

Government has provided somewhat tenuous reasons for maintaining the tobacco ban, which seem to hinge on smokes as a vector for the virus when shared. People were quick to do the math, pointing out all of the other things that people share which would spread the virus in a similar way.

Then there are the studies which Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma cites, but seems unable to produce authors or evidence of peer review (peer review calls on other researchers to validate a theory).

Lastly, recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) are said to have played a huge part in maintaining the ban.

Let’s take a closer look at what WHO has to say about cigarettes per News24:

Smokers are at higher risk of contracting the coronavirus

In March, the WHO said, because smoking means that fingers (and possibly Covid-19 contaminated cigarettes) are in contact with the lips, it increases the possibility of transmission of the virus from hand to mouth.

The WHO said smoking products, such as water pipes, often also involve the sharing of mouthpieces and hoses, which could facilitate the spread of Covid-19 in communal and social settings.

Smokers will experience worse symptoms than non-smokers 

In a statement in May, the WHO said a review of studies by public health experts convened by the organisation on 29 April 2020, found that smokers are more likely to develop severe disease with Covid-19, compared to non-smokers.

It said smoking is a known complication factor for any respiratory disease, such as Covid-19.

“Smoking impairs lung function, making it harder for the body to fight off coronaviruses and other diseases,” the WHO said.

WHO is correct in their assertion that upon quitting the habit, oxygen improves in the body roughly two weeks later and overall lung function increases.

Between one to nine months after someone quits smoking, coughing and shortness of breath decrease, and the cilia (the tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) starts to regain normal function. This makes the individual more able to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce the risk of infection.

Greek academic cardiologist Konstantinos Farsalinos has put forward the theory that smokers are at lower risk of contracting COVID-19 with a paper published in early April. He found that fewer smokers were admitted to hospital than non-smokers in both China and the USA.

A French study has also proposed this idea, with further studies currently underway at a major hospital in Paris testing the effects of nicotine patches to fight the coronavirus.

While researchers do not deny that if a smoker is admitted to hospital with COVID-19, the outcome is likely to be worse, a growing body of evidence seems to suggest that smokers may be at a reduced risk of contracting the virus.

The WHO said it is constantly evaluating new research, including research that examines the link between tobacco and nicotine use, and Covid-19.

“WHO urges researchers, scientists and the media to be cautious about amplifying unproven claims that tobacco or nicotine could reduce the risk of Covid-19,” the organisation said in a statement”.

Notably, a paper from Farsalinos has been fast-tracked through the rigorous process of peer review, something that other papers on smoking and the coronavirus have yet to achieve, including those that cite smoking as a risk factor for contracting COVID-19.

It’s important to remember that all of this research is, at this point, in progress, so it’s best not to cling to one theory or another, but to wait for conclusive evidence.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, the ban on tobacco could be exacerbating the one consistent thing that Dlamini-Zuma has stuck to in her defence of the ban: the sharing of cigarettes.

IOL reports:

It’s a seller’s market and illegal traders can demand massively inflated prices. The cost of a single or loose draw has gone up from from 50 cents to R5/7 since the lockdown started.

As a result of the scarcity and the price, more and more people are ending up sharing cigarettes. They are sharing saliva when they share cigarettes – not because they want to but because the government has made cigarettes almost unaffordable.

You can read more on that, here.

There are reports that suggest the government will today provide a record of the material that led to its decisions to first lift the cigarette ban and then reverse it.

If so, we may finally have a look at the decision-making process, although you can bet that’s not going to stop many from making links between Dlamini-Zuma and some in the illicit cigarette trade.

[source:news24&iol]