Smokers 'four times less likely' to contract Covid-19, prompting nicotine patch trials on patients

Source: The Telegraph



Smokers 'four times less likely' to contract Covid-19, prompting nicotine patch trials on patients

Researchers in France will test nicotine patches on health workers and patients but reiterated smoking could also cause more severe illness

By Henry Samuel 23 April 2020 • 5:04pm

Frontline health workers and patients in France may be given nicotine patches after studies found that four times fewer smokers contracted Covid-19 than non-smokers.

It may sound counterintuitive that people who puff on Gauloises are less likely to catch a virus that can cause deadly attacks on the lungs. However, that was the statistical outcome of an in-depth study conducted by the Pasteur Institute, a leading French research centre into the disease.

The institute tested almost 700 teachers and pupils of a school in Crépy-en-Valois in one of the hardest-hit areas in France, as well as their families. The “highly accurate” tests found that only 7.2 per cent of smokers from among the adults tested were infected while four times as many non-smokers, some 28 per cent, were infected.

Arnaud Fontanet, an epidemiologist at the institute, warned that they were not encouraging people to take up smoking, remarking that those smokers who do catch the virus “risk suffering more complications” than others. Scientists suggested it could be the nicotine in cigarettes that was behind the surprising results regarding infection, although more research is needed.

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Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/23/smokers-four-times-less-likely-contract-covid-19-prompting-nicotine/

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State Farm says it might offer insurance refunds by Friday.

Source: Newsy


April 8, 2020

State Farm says it might offer insurance refunds by Friday.

State Farm, the nation's largest auto insurer, tells Newsy it is likely to act this week after its competitors promised to refund billions of dollars to consumers. It is the latest fallout after our Newsy investigation took on the insurance industry for overcharging consumers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week State Farm told Newsy it had nothing to say in response to allegations the insurer and others were overcharging drivers who are mostly off the roads now and staying at home. By Monday, Allstate had announced a $600 million refund for drivers. American Family Insurance offered $200 million. By Tuesday, Geico followed suit, promising its customers two billion dollars in refunds. Liberty Mutual threw in 250 million dollars.

Wednesday, USAA announced a 20 percent refund for its policyholders, which it says amounts to $520 million. Shelter Insurance announced a 30 percent refund for its auto customers, the best in the industry so far. Unlike Geico, which will make customers wait until their policy renews to collect, Shelter Insurance said it intends to get its money out the door as soon as possible. All in all, by midweek, insurers had collectively promised more than $4 billion in refunds since Newsy’s report, where the Consumer Federation of America said insurers were acting illegally.

"You were the first big story out there so I give you a lot of credit for what’s happening," Bob Hunter of the Consumer Federation of America said of Newsy's report.



Read more: https://www.newsy.com/stories/auto-policyholders-due-4-billion-in-refunds/

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