Health Educator Kelli Goatley-Seals has seen a lot in her 17 years at the Washoe County Health District. COVID-19 is the biggest health crisis they have faced there in 11 years: “It was the H1N1 virus. We had a lot of public concern. We had lines around our building."
Today it’s a new virus. Why is this one, COVID-19 harder on smokers? She says the answer lies in the lungs, and the damage it causes: "Exactly. Smoking and vaping are really risk factors for a lot of lung illnesses."
But the message the Washoe County Health District really wants to get out is how smoking and vaping is a COVID risk factor, for others. How does that happen? By negating the 2 top preventive measures. Number 1, smokers take off masks. Goatley-Seal says "By removing a mask to smoke, it increases that person-to-person transmission by those droplets."
Number 2, she says smokers touch their face more often, making hand washing ineffective: "We think its increased risk for again, those droplets and those contaminants being in the environment, and being on people's hands where they touch other things."
Do they want businesses to ban tobacco use in their establishments? "Yes. We're asking that businesses consider voluntary smoke-free tobacco-free policies for their businesses." She says businesses can't enforce the face mask mandate, while allowing smoking. "If you have people continually taking off their mask, they cannot comply with that mandate."
This all goes for teenagers too, who see the Coronavirus as an older person's illness. But it’s not just your father's, or mother's disease. A study just published in The Journal of Adolescent Health found 32% of 18-to-25 year-olds have at least 1 risk factor that could result in severe COVID-19 infections. Smoking is by far was the biggest risk factor for the young. She tells me, "A lot of young people do. A lot of times, youth in general feel bulletproof.”
And you can find ways to quit tobacco or vaping products, by calling the Nevada Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW. That's 1-800-784-8669.
