WVA’s Plea to Matt Hancock.
The World Vaper’s Alliance have made a plea to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to equip smokers currently having to quarantine in hotels with access to vaping products.
Travellers returning to the UK from red-list COVID zones have needed to quarantine in hotels since early February, staying for 10 days whilst having to pay out of pocket for the experience. This ruling was introduced following reports of new COVID variants arising from places like South Africa and Brazil.
It wasn’t long before people were calling the procedures a “farce” as people were leaving their rooms to go for a cigarette. The Telegraph wrote: “Businessman Wayne Kelly, quarantining for 10 days at the Radisson Blu hotel at Heathrow, told how he was escorted from his room by security guards – some of whom were wearing masks beneath their noses – to have a cigarette outside.”
The WVA notes that this can be an opportunity for thousands of smokers to quit once and for all. Vaping devices are a less harmful alternative to smoking for ‘guests’ in state-mandated quarantine hotels. Vaping devices can be used in most hotel rooms, avoiding contact from the outside world. It’s an effective way of protecting other citizens from the risk of COVID, whilst also furthering smoking cessation goals.
This is a win-win option for both the UK government, the NHS and smokers in quarantine hotels across the country.
