Can vaping or smoking increase risk of coronavirus? Here’s what health experts say

Doctors say smoking and vaping could increase your chances of getting coronavirus.

“Well, if there was ever a reason to quit, here’s another one,” Dr. Tara Narula, a board-certified cardiologist at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital, told CBS News. “Anything that’s going to compromise your lungs is going to increase your risk of being susceptible. We know that smoking decreases your ability to really fight infection.”

Dr. Joanna Cohen, from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said smoking could make you more susceptible by injuring the lungs, CBS said.

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

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said vaping or smoking can increase the risk of a “severe illness” from coronavirus, Reuters reported.

“If you are a smoker or a vaper that does make you more vulnerable,” de Blasio said, according to the outlet. “If you are a smoker or a vaper this is a very good time to stop that habit and we will help you.”

De Blasio said that older adults above the age of 50 with preexisting medical conditions are more susceptible, according to The Hill.

A 22-year-old man in New York tested positive for coronavirus and “had a vaping habit,” according to Gothamist.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said older adults and those with “serious chronic medical conditions,” including diabetes, heart disease and lung disease, are more at risk for getting sicker from the virus.

More than 118,000 people have been infected with the COVID-19 virus and more than 4,000 people have died, according to John Hopkins University.