Table 4.
Top 10 postsa about nicotine preventing COVID-19 retweeted by top users.
| Tweet text | Top users who retweeted, n (%) |
| NYC Mayor said smoking and vaping increases coronavirus risk. In 1099 cases from China, only 12.6% were smokers (we would expect much higher). ZERO data on e-cigs. So, still too early to say. People with ZERO public health knowledge should SHUT UP. | 39 (23.9) |
| Finally, the study is out “Systematic review of the prevalence of current smoking among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China could nicotine be a therapeutic option?” Very low prevalence of smoking among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China. | 38 (23.3) |
| Moderate and heavy smokers were 50-60% less likely to be tested positive for COVID-19 and 80-90% less likely to be admitted to the ICU... Remember my hypothesis about the potentially protective effects of nicotine since early April? | 31 (19.0) |
| So few people hospitalized with the coronavirus appear to be smokers. I spoke to the scientists, tobacco experts, and policymakers who are trying to see if nicotine *might* have something to do with it. | 23 (14.1) |
| Dramatic UNDER-representation of smokers among COVID-19 patients in France. 80% reduced standardized (for age and sex) incidence ratio!! Strongly supports my hypothesis about the protective effects of nicotine which i made 1 month ago (soon to be published). | 22 (13.5) |
| On January 22 at the beginning of this year I had a suspicion about the protective effect of nicotine on the coronavirus. | 20 (12.3) |
| Official French data on #tobacco smoking; #covid19 replicate the picture in China, Germany; USA A remarkable low rate of smokers are hospitalised w/ coronavirus compared to smoking prevalence (France 23%). | 18 (11.0) |
| The government has admitted “smoking populations were less likely to be infected” with the coronavirus and develop Covid-19. | 12 (7.4) |
| The prohibition of cigarettes does nothing to control or limit the Covid 19 epidemic. On the contrary smokers are significantly less likely to require hospitalization if they do become infected. NDZ is pursuing a very personal and subjective campaign. | 12 (7.4) |
| “There is zero evidence that smoking will propagate or increase transmission of COVID-19.”—Dr Konstantinos Farsalinos, Cardiologist and anti-smoking researcher | 11 (6.8) |
aThese top 10 posts accounted for 69.8% of retweets of such content by top users; 29 other posts were retweeted by between 1 and 9 top users.