News and Events

DeSoto SWAT Youth Proudly Sport Their SWAT Mask and Encourage Their Peers to Spread Love Not COVID
March 15, 2021

In addition to being required to wear a mask on any DeSoto County School District Campus, DeSoto County SWAT youth want our community members to know that smoking increases the risk of both bacterial and viral infections.

The harms of tobacco use are well-established. Tobacco causes 8 million deaths every year from cardiovascular diseases, lung disorders, cancers, diabetes, and hypertension. Smoking tobacco is also a known risk factor for severe disease and death from many respiratory infections. In the COVID-19 pandemic, questions have been asked about clinical outcomes for smokers, and whether they are equally susceptible to infection, and if nicotine has any biological effect on the SAR-CoV-2 virus (the virus that causes COVID-19).

While there is no robust evidence to suggest an increased risk of infection amongst smokers; analysis of deaths from coronavirus in China shows that men are more likely to die than women, something that may be related to the fact that many more Chinese men smoke than women.  Among Chinese patients diagnosed with COVID-19 associated pneumonia, the odds of disease progression (including to death) were 14 times higher among people with a history of smoking compared to those who did not smoke.

DeSoto SWAT Youth want to remind the public about the increased risk of respiratory infection in smokers versus non-smokers and encourage tobacco users to quit.

For more information on quitting, please visit tobaccofreeflorida.com/quityourway

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References:

  1. https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/smoking-and-covid-19
  2. https://untobaccocontrol.org/kh/waterpipes/covid-19/?mc_cid=84e16dea4d&mc_eid=506a6cbd4d
  3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-dangerous-smokers/
  4. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/217624