Inside the establishments, such as bars and restaurants, smoking is prohibited, but not on the terraces. However, the idea of also banning smoking on terraces should be appreciated .
Given that it seems that the contagion of coronavirus is much more likely in a closed environment and that this will encourage (as if it were necessary to encourage people in summer) to consume on the terraces, the truth is that smoking on the terrace increases the risk, according to the Spanish Society of Pulmonology .
Smoke
The Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) warns of the risk of smoking in terraces because, in doing so, one removes the mask, inevitably touches the face and, through the expulsion of smoke, viral load is exhaled .
As explained by Carlos A. Jiménez-Ruiz , pulmonologist and President of SEPAR:
When you smoke and exhale the smoke, be it conventional tobacco or electronic devices, tiny respiratory droplets are expelled that can contain a viral load and be highly contagious.
As if this were not enough, the toxic substances in tobacco smoke lower the defenses of the lungs and this makes it easier for viruses and bacteria to infect the lungs of a smoker more frequently than those of a non-tobacco user .
Furthermore, lung cells from smokers, both those from manufactured and electronic cigarettes, are especially susceptible to being infected by SARS-Cov-2.