Does vaping increase COVID-19 risk?
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have speculated that vaping could increase the risk of getting COVID-19 and experiencing more severe outcomes from the disease. The claims were grounded in little to no evidence, and almost none has emerged since.
The authors of a California study claimed that their survey showed young vapers were five to seven times more likely than never vapers to test positive. It received a massive amount of media coverage. It also received scathing criticism and calls for retraction from longtime researchers in the field who cited multiple methodological issues. A large Icelandic study reported that the proportion of e-cigarette users was lower among patients with COVID-19 than in the general population of Iceland and that patients using e-cigarettes did not have more severe symptoms than other patients. A non-peer reviewed UK study found that vaping was not associated with self-reported COVID-19.
There is a considerable amount of evidence that current tobacco smoking is associated with a reduced chance of testing positive. Former smokers appear to face more serious outcomes than current or never smokers. Outcome data on current smoking are mixed.
A twitter thread with links to hundreds of studies which report smoking status data of COVID-19 patients