Artist David Hockney Suggests Smoking Could Protect People Against the Coronavirus

When world-famous artist David Hockney wrote a letter to the Daily Mail saying he believes smoking could protect people against the Coronavirus many scoffed.

Mr Hockney wrote: 'Could it not be that smokers have developed an immune system to this virus? With all these figures coming out, it’s beginning to look like that to me.'

Understandably the claim was brushed off as laughable and 'rubbish' by many.

But is it?

A leading infectious disease expert at University College London, Professor Francois Balloux, said there is 'bizarrely strong' evidence it could be true.

And data from multiple Chinese studies shows that COVID-19 hospital patients contained a smaller proportion of smokers than the general population (6.5 per cent compared to 26.6 per cent), suggesting they were less likely to end up in hospital. 

Another study, by America's Centers for Disease Control of over 7,000 people who tested positive for coronavirus, found that just 1.3 per cent of them were smokers - against the 14 per cent of all Americans that the CDC says smoke.

The study also found that the smokers stood no greater chance of ending up in hospital or an ICU. 

The reasons for this are unclear.