Are Smokers or Vapers More at Risk for COVID-19? Here's What We know

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April 08, 2020

Dear Reader, Today we have a robust list of top news stories, so I'll keep this intro brief: Smoking or vaping could make you more vulnerable to serious infection from the new coronavirus; the prospect of using CRISPR to treat a host of diseases is moving closer to reality, and we can now add U.S. coal to the list of industries threatened by the pandemic. Read these stories and more in the roundup below.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Public Health Are Smokers or Vapers More at Risk for COVID-19? Here's What We know Investigating the potential danger to those who use tobacco products or e-cigarettes calls for a look at the lungs By Jeffery DelViscio,Kit R. Roane

Medical & Biotech "Punch Card" DNA Could Mean Cheaper High-Capacity Data Storage The new method may be faster and easier than other genetic storage attempts By Charles Q. Choi

Neurological Health How People with Autism Forge Friendships Most autistic individuals want to and can make friends, though their relationships often have a distinctive quality By Lydia Denworth,Spectrum

Space Margaret Burbidge, Astronomer Who Studied the Inner Workings of Stars, Dies at 100 Sometimes called "Lady Stardust," Burbidge helped reveal the cosmic origins of chemical elements By Meghan Bartels,SPACE.com

Public Health Not Just Ventilators: Staff Trained to Run Them Are in Short Supply Each patient on a breathing machine requires multiple doctors and nurses to care for that person By Karen Weintraub

Public Health Why Measles Deaths Are Surging--and Coronavirus Could Make it Worse Measles has killed thousands in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 23 countries have suspended vaccination campaigns By Leslie Roberts,Nature magazine

Energy Can Coal Survive the Coronavirus? Diminished energy demand and the high price of coal is putting pressure on the struggling industry By Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

Medical & Biotech Quest to Use CRISPR against Disease Gains Ground As the first clinical trial results trickle in, researchers look ahead to more sophisticated medical applications for genome editing By Heidi Ledford,Nature magazine

Public Health Cancer Patients Face Treatment Delays and Uncertainty as Coronavirus Overwhelms Hospitals Health care providers are delaying "nonessential" surgeries—and that could hurt some patients By Will Stone,NPR,Kaiser Health News

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QUOTE OF THE DAY "Friendly reminder in times of uncertainty and misinformation: anecdotes are not data. (good) data is carefully measured and collected information based on a range of subject-dependent factors, including, but not limited to, controlled variables, meta-analysis, and randomization." Steak-umm via Twitter

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