India crossed 30 lakh coronavirus positive cases and vaccine is nowhere in sight. As researchers are finding more and more ways that corona spreads, one will take you by surprise. Till now we have only heard cases of people getting infected because of sharing cigarettes.
Like take this case, for example, a man in Himachal Pradesh was charged with attempt to murder for infecting his daughter and two friends.
The man in question had an alcohol party with his friends outside his house after returning from another district. Not only he drank with his friends, but he also shared cigarettes with his friends before testing positive.
Although there is no evidence to prove if exhaled smoke could be carrying virus particles but the thought of breathing air that was in someone else’s lung is scary enough.
Whenever someone lights a cigarette, they need to remove their mask to take a puff. That is risky enough, to be around people not wearing masks. But smokers tend to exhale more forcefully.
According to Herman Gatzambide, a pulmonary specialist in Orlando, someone who isn’t smoking may only project respiratory particles 6 ft, but for someone who is smoking, it could be more like 10-12 ft. Ristenpart also added:
If you smell somebody else’s exhaled cigarette smoke, then you are inhaling air that was in that person’s lungs. This means you could also be inhaling their virus-laden respiratory particles, which are composed of respiratory mucosa rather than ash.