“…While cigarette smoking is well-documented as the leading cause of preventable death ( Lariscy, 2019 ), scientists are now investigating the link between smoking and COVID-19 susceptibility and severity. Studies have found that smokers infected with COVID-19 may be more likely to become severely ill than those who do not smoke ( Berlin et al, 2020 , Heydari and Arfaeinia, 2021 , Patanavanich and Glantz, 2020 , Reddy et al, 2021 , Zhang et al, 2021 , Zhao et al, 2020 ) but it remains controversial whether smoking affects susceptibility to COVID-19 infection ( Heydari and Arfaeinia, 2021 , Prinelli et al, 2021 , Simons et al, 2020 , van Westen-Lagerweij et al, 2021 ). To promote public health, it is crucial to understand how COVID-19 impacts smokers and what factors may increase or decrease smoking behavior during the pandemic.…”