According to the Centre for Disease Control -CDC, in the USA,  and the World Health Organisation, more than 8 million people a year die from tobacco related diseases. According to the same sources Covid has killed 4.2 million since the beginning of the pandemic. These numbers need to be looked at and we need to be fair about this discussion. Smoking kills more than Covid yet no one is doing anything to stop it. 
 I think it's very important that everybody does the best they can to stop the transmission of the virus, and to help our healthcare services. We all accept this. We have been ordered to stay home, to wear masks and to vaccinate all in order to protect our hospitals and the weak, and its understandable, yet no one is talking about banning smoking during these challenging times. Why?
 The WHO clearly states that there is a 50% increase in mortality in smokers after contracting COVID-19. Why is it still okay to smoke during this pandemic? Smoking is not something that should be so overly protected. If civil liberties are being taken away to improve public safety and public health, then smoking is no longer a civil liberty that doesn't impact all of us. The same rational goes  for heavy drinking ( 3 million deaths a year according to WHO). 
Smoking directly contributes to the mortality rates and the comorbidity rates of COVID. 
 For decades smokers have overburdened our hospitals, created massive healthcare issues and no one talks about this. We all acknowledge it, yet nothing is done. Should we not take this opportunity to have this discussion?
People get nervous if you don't wear a mask outdoors, but have no problem seeing parents smoke next to their infants. We need to have a serious discussion around smoking and the challenges that smokers present to our healthcare systems, to themselves and to this battle we are all fighting on a global scale. 
As a surgeon that operates patients every day for over 20 years, Dr Miguel Stanley has recently begun refusing treatment to moderate and heavy smokers, and works closely with them to help them find ways to quit and dramatically improve their systemic health in order to have a more healthier life and a longer lifespan. 
Should governments not be thinking the same?