4 ms·

I immediately check out whenever someone says "Google it and see what comes up" as "evidence" proving some conspiracy. Also, this is weird hill to die on. Thi

I immediately check out whenever someone says "Google it and see what comes up" as "evidence" proving some conspiracy. Also, this is weird hill to die on. This dude has amassed a mega-blog post with a ton of aggregated studies - it's not a small amount of work. Anecdotally my only family member who regularly smokes just got COVID.

Izkata 4y ago
> Anecdotally my only family member who regularly smokes just got COVID. Took nearly 3 years, that's pretty good ;)
- brewdad 4y ago
  They didn't say whether it was their first time getting COVID.
  - josefresco 4y ago
    I think it was! And their symptoms were minor - go figure!
youngtaff 4y ago
> Anecdotally my only family member who regularly smokes just got COVID. I’ve never had Covid either despite repeated close contact with others who’ve had it I smoked for 9 months over 35 years ago but I think it’s safe to say I’d be classed as a non-smoker
- standardUser 4y ago
  "I’ve never had Covid either" That you know of. Like many infections, not everyone develops symptoms.
  - youngtaff 4y ago
    Indeed, but I also tested at least twice weekly for over a year (and others in my household tested positively during this time)
detaro 4y ago
Also googling the topic I find plenty "news" articles basically saying what the meta-analysis they reference also says, from later than 2020 which according to the authro was the only time this possibility was acknowledged. Somehow that's basically always the case if someone claims that something wasn't reported. (But I'm sure the author would find reasons to discount that reporting because it's not as unequivocally positive as they think the topic is or ...)
spurgu 4y ago
> Anecdotally my only family member who regularly smokes just got COVID. 50% less risk doesn't mean invincible. ;) My anecdotal contribution is that my fiancée (who smokes) didn't catch it from me, even though we spent all days together throughout (me working from home, she not working at all) when I caught Covid 8 months after my 2nd (and last) jab.
kelnos 4y ago
Yes, and I've so far gone through the initial double dose vaccination, a booster a year ago, and the new bivalent vaccine this fall. But I've still had COVID at least once (possibly twice) since my first vaccination. Do I think the vaccine did nothing? Of course not. Just as someone who agrees with the smoking-protects-against-COVID research probably wouldn't think smoking did nothing, even if they eventually got infected. The studies didn't say smoking made it impossible to get COVID, just that it reduces the likelihood. Just like the vaccines won't 100% prevent it.
notahacker 4y ago
The author has spent his entire career attacking anti-smoking campaigns both as an author and the reason why the Institute for Economic Affairs was Big Tobacco's favourite think tank, so assembling this sort of list of "evidence" is par for the course for him. Back in the day when "long COVID" was an unknown phenomenon and vaccines a dim and distant dream, the medical profession had already spotted the interesting correlation and started nicotine supplement trials (anecdotally, my very non-scientific experiment with nicotine patches for lagging symptoms showed no evident effect). It's possible there's been a massive coverup, but it's also possible the health professionals reasoning just wasn't as highly motivated to see success in these trials and an absence of confounding data as Christopher Snowdon...
- thenerdhead 4y ago
  That would be wild if a treatment to long covid is smoking tobacco or nicotine patches. Mostly because no sane doctor would think to try that. How long did you try them for? I would imagine it would take awhile for your body to get acclimated to it for effects to take on. 4-6 weeks+
  - aradox66 4y ago
    smoking cigarettes is also a well established treatment for ulcerative colitis symptoms. Usually not prescribed for the obvious reasons https://www.healthline.com/health/ulcerative-colitis-and-smoking#research https://www.healthline.com/health/ulcerative-colitis-and-smo...
    - thenerdhead 4y ago
      > Researchers think this may be due to nicotine’s ability to stop the release of inflammation-producing cells in the digestive tract. This anti-inflammatory action may, in turn, stop the immune system from mistakenly attacking good cells in the intestines. Wow. That sounds very similar to some of the current theories of long covid.
  - notahacker 4y ago
    A few days, on the assumption that my body was taking too long to fight off the infection in which case the hypothesized property of inhibiting virus replication via ACE2 pathways might actually have been useful. Came to the conclusion that lingering symptoms were more post-viral stuff (as I said, only just starting to be recorded with respect to COVID at the time) so the nicotine was utterly pointless. A slight nicotine buzz is hardly a huge acclimatisation (which was sort of the point of thinking it was low-risk to try) and I didn't exactly want to get used to it enough develop a dependency on it!

Izkata 4y ago

> Anecdotally my only family member who regularly smokes just got COVID. Took nearly 3 years, that's pretty good ;)

brewdad 4y ago
They didn't say whether it was their first time getting COVID.
- josefresco 4y ago
  I think it was! And their symptoms were minor - go figure!

youngtaff 4y ago

> Anecdotally my only family member who regularly smokes just got COVID. I’ve never had Covid either despite repeated close contact with others who’ve had it I smoked for 9 months over 35 years ago but I think it’s safe to say I’d be classed as a non-smoker

standardUser 4y ago
"I’ve never had Covid either" That you know of. Like many infections, not everyone develops symptoms.
- youngtaff 4y ago
  Indeed, but I also tested at least twice weekly for over a year (and others in my household tested positively during this time)

detaro 4y ago

Also googling the topic I find plenty "news" articles basically saying what the meta-analysis they reference also says, from later than 2020 which according to the authro was the only time this possibility was acknowledged. Somehow that's basically always the case if someone claims that something wasn't reported. (But I'm sure the author would find reasons to discount that reporting because it's not as unequivocally positive as they think the topic is or ...)

spurgu 4y ago

> Anecdotally my only family member who regularly smokes just got COVID. 50% less risk doesn't mean invincible. ;) My anecdotal contribution is that my fiancée (who smokes) didn't catch it from me, even though we spent all days together throughout (me working from home, she not working at all) when I caught Covid 8 months after my 2nd (and last) jab.

kelnos 4y ago

Yes, and I've so far gone through the initial double dose vaccination, a booster a year ago, and the new bivalent vaccine this fall. But I've still had COVID at least once (possibly twice) since my first vaccination. Do I think the vaccine did nothing? Of course not. Just as someone who agrees with the smoking-protects-against-COVID research probably wouldn't think smoking did nothing, even if they eventually got infected. The studies didn't say smoking made it impossible to get COVID, just that it reduces the likelihood. Just like the vaccines won't 100% prevent it.

notahacker 4y ago

The author has spent his entire career attacking anti-smoking campaigns both as an author and the reason why the Institute for Economic Affairs was Big Tobacco's favourite think tank, so assembling this sort of list of "evidence" is par for the course for him. Back in the day when "long COVID" was an unknown phenomenon and vaccines a dim and distant dream, the medical profession had already spotted the interesting correlation and started nicotine supplement trials (anecdotally, my very non-scientific experiment with nicotine patches for lagging symptoms showed no evident effect). It's possible there's been a massive coverup, but it's also possible the health professionals reasoning just wasn't as highly motivated to see success in these trials and an absence of confounding data as Christopher Snowdon...

thenerdhead 4y ago
That would be wild if a treatment to long covid is smoking tobacco or nicotine patches. Mostly because no sane doctor would think to try that. How long did you try them for? I would imagine it would take awhile for your body to get acclimated to it for effects to take on. 4-6 weeks+
- aradox66 4y ago
  smoking cigarettes is also a well established treatment for ulcerative colitis symptoms. Usually not prescribed for the obvious reasons https://www.healthline.com/health/ulcerative-colitis-and-smoking#research https://www.healthline.com/health/ulcerative-colitis-and-smo...
  - thenerdhead 4y ago
    > Researchers think this may be due to nicotine’s ability to stop the release of inflammation-producing cells in the digestive tract. This anti-inflammatory action may, in turn, stop the immune system from mistakenly attacking good cells in the intestines. Wow. That sounds very similar to some of the current theories of long covid.
- notahacker 4y ago
  A few days, on the assumption that my body was taking too long to fight off the infection in which case the hypothesized property of inhibiting virus replication via ACE2 pathways might actually have been useful. Came to the conclusion that lingering symptoms were more post-viral stuff (as I said, only just starting to be recorded with respect to COVID at the time) so the nicotine was utterly pointless. A slight nicotine buzz is hardly a huge acclimatisation (which was sort of the point of thinking it was low-risk to try) and I didn't exactly want to get used to it enough develop a dependency on it!