Although COVID-19 has caused people to change a lot of their behavior, habits such as vaping are not so easily dropped.
Physical contact and the sharing of unsanitized items during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those that have regular contact with mouths has been limited. But when people share electronic cigarettes, they ignore these precautions, said Hope Frazier, an IU health and wellness educator.
E-cigarette users often carry them in pockets and purses, creating an opportunity to spread bacteria, in addition to the germs they carry from going in and out of mouths, Frazier said.
Freshman Jack Stork said his vaping usage has increase since he returned to college.
“It’s definitely gone up, but that’s also been a bit of a social thing,” Stork said. “When you're around other smokers you tend to smoke more.”
E-cigarettes have been associated with lung injuries, seizures, nicotine addiction and poisoning, in addition to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes and inhibited brain development, Frazier said.
“It started as a social thing, and now we all just have nicotine addictions,” Stork said.
In addition to the risks of sharing vapes, the chemicals and nicotine break down the body’s ability to fight regular illnesses, creating a challenge for anyone fighting COVID-19, Frazier said.
According to a study published in August 2020 by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, young people who vaped were five to seven times more likely to be infected by COVID-19 than those who did not use e-cigarettes.
Vaping is popular among college students. A study conducted by Butler University in 2019 found that 60% of college students have used a Juul.
“I’m definitely going through at least one Juul pod a day,” Stork said.
College students make up about half of Wild Side Smoke Shop’s business, employee Steven Marchuk said.
Marchuk said the shop has seen an increase in sales since schools reopened.
“It has definitely jumped back up more than it ever has since the college students came back,” Marchuk said. “We are still doing damn good.”
Smoking cigarettes has also been linked to increasing chances of contracting the coronavirus. IU Health suggested in April that people quit smoking to avoid increased complications from contracting the coronavirus citing World Health Organization research.
IU Health offers tobacco and vaping cessation programs.
