When someone coughs in public, he or she is no longer perceived as just a bystander with a dry throat, asthma or a smoker choking on a cigarette. A cough in 2020 could mean millions of tiny COVID-19 contaminated particles floating into the air and landing on you or a surface that you encounter, causing you to become ill with mild symptoms or symptoms that may be life threatening.

A cough has also been a simple sign that more serious health issues may soon follow. This is true for both smokers and those that have COVID-19. Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body. Couple that with COVID-19 and the chances of becoming ill or dying increase significantly.

“The COVID-19 pandemic represents the greatest medical and public health challenge in decades,” said Amy Winter, Director of the Office of Tobacco Control for the Mississippi State Department of Health. “Scientists are still learning about the disease, but we know that smoking weakens the immune system, which makes it harder for your body to fight disease. If you continue to smoke, you also have a greater risk for respiratory infections.”

More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking. For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis. And for those with heart or lung disease caused by smoking, you may be at higher risk of having severe illness from COVID-19. 

Tobacco use remains the number one cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S. Tobacco kills more than 480,000 people per year and sadly that’s still more than COVID-19. You have to protect yourself from COVID-19 as well as other smoking related diseases. If you need help quitting smoking, we have free tools.

For more information and resources about the dangers of e-cigarettes or tobacco products, visit www.healthyms.com/tobacco. For help with quitting visit www.quitlinems.com, or call the Mississippi Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

For in-person or virtual tobacco education presentations, contact Jamara Dunn, Project Director for the Mississippi Tobacco-Free Coalition of Lauderdale and Newton Counties: jldunn@ibshealthy.com.

Jamara L. Dunn is project director for Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition for Lauderdale & Newton Counties.