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by derefr 1615 days ago
> to hear people complain that walking near a smoker on a sidewalk outside is a risk to their health

Doesn't have to be the smoke itself that's harmful. Presumably, if you can smell someone's second-hand smoke, you're also inhaling the bacterial spray contained in their breath, no? Something I think about if I'm walking outside without a mask on and end up stuck walking for a while behind a smoker. I tend to put my mask back on.

2 comments

That's what our immune system is for.

Covid is a problem at the moment but bacteria really aren't. Your chance to die from a bacterial infection randomly caught from someone in the street is minimal, and exposure boosts your immunity. And they are everywhere anyway.

You might get a cold for a few days but that's life.

The bacterial spray isn't unique to smokers.