New study shows that smoking on terraces spreads Covid up to 8 metres away

The Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) released a document yesterday warning that smoking on terraces makes them unsafe places for both people sat on them and for staff due to the risk of contagion from Covid, since the virus can spread up to eight metres away with the smoke.

In addition, they also warn, before the next approval of the Decree on passive smoking and terraces, that passive smokers can also catch other diseases and illnesses associated with tobacco.

SEPAR ​​has already submitted five "inalienable" measures to the Ministry of Health that should be included in the reform of the current Anti-Tobacco Law, one of which is that the terraces continue to remain free of tobacco smoke and the toxins released by the electronic devices used to vape.

In addition, the society of pulmonologists considers that "this measure should not be approved only circumstantially, to avoid the spread of COVID-19 on the terraces, but permanently, so that it helps to prevent the spread of this and other respiratory infections."

In the statement, they reminded that tobacco kills 60,000 people a year in Spain, of which a percentage corresponds to exposure to smoke by non-smokers, and that it is estimated at least 22,000 deaths a year in Europe are due to passive smoking.

According to their studies, SEPAR say that in recent years there has been an increase in air pollution caused by tobacco in open environments, such as on the terraces of bars and restaurants, with a percentage of tobacco toxins in these spaces that ranges between 30 and 50% for each smoker who smokes on them.

They warn that the harmful gases and particles contained in tobacco smoke in these places, not only come from the smoker's exhalation and the combustion of the cigarette, but also from the butts and the mixture of these toxins from the smoker with gases in the air.

"These chemical agents are maintained over time, as they ‘stick’ to clothing, objects, or other facilities on the terraces, and are even residually maintained in the smoker's exhalation for at least 10 minutes after finishing their last cigarette," says the document.

According to the society of pulmonologists, this exposure in non-smokers carries a higher risk of developing diseases such as ischemic heart disease, neoplasms, or chronic respiratory diseases, especially in workers or vulnerable sections of the population such as children or pregnant women.

Increased risk of Covid:
SEPAR also say that there is solid scientific evidence that demonstrates a dangerous association between COVID and tobacco, since exposure to tobacco toxins is related to more serious illness from the coronavirus, adding "Smoking increases the chances of needing admission to ICU or of dying by 79%, and of developing severe COVID by 96%,".

“The spread of the SARS-CoV2 virus is produced by aerosols when breathing, which is greater when smoking or vaping. In areas where people smoke or vape, coronaviruses with diameters of 0.1 microns can join larger tobacco smoke particles, and these aerosols loaded with viral particles can reach distances of 8 metres,“ they explain

"Therefore, the smoke exhaled from conventional tobacco and electronic devices represents the ideal vehicle for the transmission of virus particles between people."

At the same time, smokers and non-smokers remain on the terraces for a longer period of time without masks, with the risk of transmission being greater, concludes SEPAR, which insists on the indispensable need for the reform of the Anti-Tobacco Law to extend the prohibition of smoking in open public spaces such as terraces.