“SMOKERS WHO WANT TO SURVIVE CORONAVIRUS SHOULD “100 PERCENT” QUIT, EXPERTS SAY” – Inverse

It was already common knowledge that smokers and vapers were at a higher risk of complications if they contracted Coronavirus. Still, experts did not expect this magnitude of respiratory deaths caused by Coronavirus among young individuals in the United States. Is Coronavirus more dangerous to Juul users? It appears to be. Now officials are finding that specifically the use of Juul is leading to many unnecessary deaths in young individuals.

Southern States in particular were perplexed by the large amount of deaths occurring in young adults and teens (ages 16-24). A demographic that normally would have a high recovery rate for a virus that is expected to be most deadly to the 65+ demographic.

States with low rates of new cases have been largely ignored by National efforts on research in regards to who is most at risk and what locations are at a higher risk.

It wasn’t until recently that Dr. Joanna Cohen of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health decided to look into what appeared to be an anomaly.

The answer she found was glaringly obvious. And the answer wasn’t just e-cigarettes, it was Juul specifically.

The three states with the highest fatality rate of individuals aged 16-24 are Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma. These three states are also the states with the highest percentage of Juul users. And as expected, a very high amount of Juul users are in the demographic of 16-24.

U.S. States With Highest Juul Use

–Source

Tennessee

Overall: 5.9%

Adults 18-24: 14.5%

High School: 11.5%

Kentucky

Overall: 6.1%

Adults 18-24: 13.1%

High School: 14.1%

Oklahoma

Overall: 7.1%

Adults 18-24: 15.4%

High School: 16.4%

Conversely, the U.S. states that currently are dealing with the highest fatality rates also happen to be the three states (New York, New Jersey, and Michigan) with the lowest Juul consumption.

With such conflicting data it makes sense that it took health officials a little bit of time to understand why the demographic of 16-24 year-olds were facing a higher amount of Coronavirus fatalities than the CDC had predicted. National Health Officials and the CDC focused on the three states with rapid onset deaths. New York, New Jersey, and Michigan. After evaluating these high risk areas they came to the conclusion that the biggest risk was being over the age of 65, the second biggest risk was having an underlying medical condition. Lung disease or poor lung health was the biggest focus in terms of under-lying medical conditions.

But as the fatality rate of young individuals continued to skyrocket in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, State Officials began to launch their own investigation. They found that among those effected by Coronavirus, including all age groups, those who reported using Juul or e-cigarrettes had an extremely alarming fatality rate of 68%.

“Our findings undoubtedly shed light on how much effect these e-cigarettes have on those who have contracted COVID-19,” Explained the Kentucky Board of Health in their final report, “it should be clarified however that this large fatality rate also includes e-cigarette users that are 50 years of age or older. This is alarming but we believe it is important to make it clear the fatality rate is not at 68% for those aged 16-24, it is 68% for all e-cigarette users. That being said, the conclusion of our findings certainly gives us a strong theory as to why our state is experiencing higher deaths among young individuals than the rest of the country.”

Dr. Joanna Cohen, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, agrees:

“We know through the deaths and severe respiratory illnesses that we had this summer that there’s certainly lung injury happening to vapers,” she told CBS News. “And if your lungs are injured, obviously they’re going to have a more difficult time dealing with other challenges.”

“Those who use electronic cigarettes are putting themselves in a position that when they catch COVID-19, they’re likely to have more dire consequences than those that do not use electronic cigarettes.” – Source