Alas, the data pretty clearly shows that smoking has a surprisingly large protective effect against infection with Sars-CoV-2 - on the order of how well the flu vaccine protects against the flu!
This understandably has not been widely reported (it is a nightmare result for public health officials), but there are now dozens of studies showing the same effect and virtually every investigated country.
On the other hand, it appears that former smokers are at a slightly higher risk of developing severe symptoms (though that seems less clear than the protective effect of active daily smoking)
This means that if you are a somewhat older smoker (i. e. over 30 or so) you should probably hold off the quitting until a vaccine becomes available.
On the other hand, it appears that former smokers are at a slightly higher risk of developing severe symptoms (though that seems less clear than the protective effect of active daily smoking)
This means that if you are a somewhat older smoker (i. e. over 30 or so) you should probably hold off the quitting until a vaccine becomes available.