The Spanish Society of Epidemiology, or SEE is demanding that smoking be banned on the terraces of bars and restaurants, at beaches, outdoor shows and in private cars and has warned that tobacco consumption increases the possibility of coronavirus infection.
The Smoking Group of SEE says smokers who are infected and asymptomatic can emit drops of water containing the virus, which puts the rest of the population at risk.
SEE acknowledges that anti-smoking laws have significantly reduced smoke exposure, but recommends that tobacco restrictions be tightened to reduce the high burden of morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco use and exposure to smoke.
It also believes there are still indoor and outdoor spaces that are not regulated by law, where smoke levels are high and carry significant health risks for smokers, non-smokers and minors.
The Society claims that 80% of establishments break the law by allowing smoking on terraces with two or more enclosures and that in these cases, the concentration of nicotine and particles can exceed the levels found in indoor spaces when smoking was allowed.
The Government is currently working on implementing new anti-smoking regulations that will include raising taxes, equating vaping with traditional cigarettes and banning vaping in areas where smoking is already banned.
Smokers may also be banned from lighting up in private cars as is already the case in Canada, the United States and Italy.
SEE also wants the ban extended to beaches, hotel terraces, sports facilities, outdoor shows, in private cars and other means of transport, at the entrance to Educational Centres where minors are present and on University Campuses.