Texas trauma doctor says post-Covid lungs are more damaged than smokers'

Not really. First because it’s not true that all symptomatic people have X-ray findings, otherwise we wouldn’t struggle with false negatives as much! Secondly “severe” pathology on a chest X-ray doesn’t mean scarring. You can have consolidation or collapse without permanent damage, and most X-rays I have seen of people who have had Covid people have normal appearing X-rays a few months down the line. Some have severe scarring still visible months later but they are the exception not the rule.

Alternative possibilities:

* Mild symptoms of Covid-19 are hidden by smoking symptoms, so they don't go to the doctor and are undetected.

* Cancer and other smoking problems kill you before Covid-19 has an opportunity.

They don't have a control group, they just compare to the average population. This is a red flag.

Also, they are not testing everyone, they just count how many people they get in the hospital, that undercount the asymptomatic (and people with mild symptoms).