[nyolfen]

i don't think it is a contradiction; "a very small fraction of smokers contract covid or end up in the hospital due to it; those that do are more likely to die"

[lazyasciiart]

This sentence: "smokers are shown to be substantially less susceptible to both catching covid and developing severe symptoms"

is contradicted by the study showing that smokers with covid are more likely to have severe symptoms than non-smokers with covid.