The corona-vultures circle

Dr Farsalinos and colleagues have been updating their working paper on smoking, vaping and coronavirus. The evidence for either activity increasing COVID-19 risk remains virtually nonexistent.

Smoking and hospitalization for COVID-19. Update, 1 more study added to the analysis, results remain the same (and are even stronger). Remarkable consistency in all studies, very low prevalence of current smoking among hospitalized COVID-19 cases in China.https://t.co/rkBJSJC6Er

— K. Farsalinos (@FarsalinosK) March 26, 2020

  
Not that this has stopped the pretend 'public health' lobby muscling in on a genuine public health problem. The Mayor of New York has been urged to ban tobacco and e-cigarette sales, and South Africa has just announced that it will effectively ban the sale of tobacco and alcohol during its 21 day lockdown.

In the Alice in Wonderland world of tobacco control, the myth about smoking increasing COVID-19 risk has become an established fact. Cherry-picking the one study that suits their purposes and ignoring the rest, they have come to the usual conclusion: they need more taxpayer cash:

The role of smoking in the contraction, transmission and mortality rate of Covid-19 should be given research attention, and countries should allocate resources to health stimulus packages, scientific research, and actions to further reduce smoking rates.

The corona-vultures are circling. Most 'public health' professionals wouldn't know one end of a microscope from the other. They are all about politics and lifestyle regulation and are therefore useless in a pandemic, but they can smell authoritarianism in the air and are keen to piggy-back it with their usual obsessions.

Take this nit-wit, for example. Terrifyingly, he is the WHO's external relations officer. Speculating wildly, he links to a Daily Mail article as supporting evidence:

Nearly 40% of Americans hospitalized for #COVID19 are between ages 20 and 54. #Vaping may be driving the rise in young people hospitalized for #coronavirus. https://t.co/rDRPROUERU pic.twitter.com/DAGnQTBGim

— Dr Alexey Kulikov (@KulikovUNIATF) March 21, 2020

Meanwhile in Britain, Greg Fell, Sheffield's low IQ public health director, is hopeful that COVID-19 will speed up the 'endgame' of total prohibition.

But whilst we are implementing emergency legislation why not go really far and ban tobacco sales

We all know this is the most potent intervention to reduce prevalence

So whilst we are rightly implementing deeply restrictive isolation and distancing measures to minimise harm
2/

— greg fell FFPH (@felly500) March 20, 2020

Today I read about an anonymous group that has just been set up under the name Lower The Baseline. Its website address was registered a few days ago but it has already got some media attention for an open letter which appears not to have been published anywhere. Their solution to COVID-19? Minimum pricing for alcohol and a lower speed limit.

Expect much more of this. The authoritarian nightmare in which we are temporarily living is Utopia for some.