Should I quit smoking right now, or wait?

You should quit immediately. There is no stress on your lungs from quitting smoking, and benefits start to accrue almost immediately. (And the mental stress of quitting, while not to be underestimated, should have little impact on the severity of a COVID course.)

If you can offset your nicotine use via a route that doesn't involve your lungs (e.g. gum, patches), that would be ideal for your health, but even vaping would be a significant improvement over smoking cigarettes.

edit: here's a nice infographic about it. You are literally measurably healthier within 24 hours of your last cigarette.

Well I'm not a doctor, but I'd very surprised if smoking didn't have a negative in most respiratory issues.

One thing I know does happen is that smoking makes it hard for you to perceive you're having some issues because it dulls the irritation in the throat in such a way that the smoker may have a subjective feeling that they got worse after quitting, when in reality they're merely noticing what was already going on, and are therefore able to seek help much sooner, with better outcomes.

So yeah, quit smoking.

Again, not a doctor.

Quit now, definitely. I had Covid (the original pre-Alpha) and am also an on-again off-again smoker. I quit when I had it, and I usually do the same when I have a cold/flu for the same reason. Respiratory infections are never fun if you're a smoker no matter what the cause is. Stopping will definitely make a noticeable improvement in your breathing within a day or two, even just cutting down helps. I'd often smoke just half a cig and save the other half for hours later. Just a couple puffs is enough to stop the craving, it doesn't take an entire cig. Smoking less does lead to enjoying it more.

Nicotine's physical addition doesn't even last a week for most people, and the 2nd/3rd days are the worst. If you can make it through that it gets a lot easier very fast. I find it helps to keep in mind that craving attacks only last for a couple of minutes. Eat an apple or some nuts or other small snack as a distraction or go for a walk and the craving will be gone soonish. There are also many delicious vapes out there with or without nicotine, though I'd wager even puffing on those will really suck if you've got Covid. You can also for days 2/3 focus on some other thing you enjoy that can distract you from the cravings - like disappearing into video games such as Stellaris for hours at a time.

I also find it helps to make damn sure you have no more cigs around. Let laziness convince you that it's really not worth that trip to the gas station to pick up a couple packs. You'll be less likely to smoke if you have to clean up and jump in the car to go get more cigs.

If you need some mental hacks to help, there's still no better insantly-quit book than Alan Carr's The Easy Way. It'll program you not to smoke in an hour, even if you smoke while you read it. ;)

You're better off quiting, the sooner the better. The longer you smoke the harder it is to quit. I smoked heavily for over twenty years and quiting was no fun. I was dizzy as fuck from getting more oxygen than I was used to, that lasted four or five days. I was exhausted but on edge for weeks. My sense of taste change, a lot of foods just tasted like weird ass chemicals. And everything smelled like shit, I cannot stress this enough as it lasted for about two years (I was abusing prescription nasal spray at one point trying to deaden it for fucks sakes.) I'm a firm believer that anyone who tells you how great getting your sense of smell back has never experienced it.

Anyway, don't be like me quit sooner than later. As far as vaping goes, that's a good idea. Just be aware that there are two types of nic, your old style box mod style vapes and you pod style vapes. The pod style use salt nic base and the mod style usually don't. Salt nic hits more like actual cigs where the old standard vg, pg, nic base doesn't. Salt nic is also a lot more addictive. So If you're trying to get off of nicotine I would recommend avoiding salt nic type vapes. Good luck.

This is moot. It’s always better for your health to quit sooner. Find an addiction counselor if you need help reaching a decision.

I think you know what to do at the right time.

I would say quit now. Odds are you’ll be infected with the omicron variant which mainly resides in the throat rather than lungs. The one I had gave me the worst throat pain I’ve ever dealt with that no medication that I was able to find would alleviate the pain (for 2 days). Every swallow felt like I had daggers in the back of my throat and it was so bad it affected my eating habits. if you happen to have this symptom, would it feel nicer as you’re further along in your nicotine detox or right at the very start?

or will that just put added stress on my lungs during the coming illness

There should actually be minimal stress on your lungs anyway. Current COVID variants tend to be more of an upper respiratory illness than lower respiratory. People I know who have had it, including myself, recently only had sinus issues and fever. I actually had to test consistently to be sure because it felt like a cold, until the fever hit last night.

What I would recommend is switching to gum in the short term if possible to avoid the lung irritation. The biggest "risk" you've got is your body adjusting to the lack of nicotine, and you may not want to go through that with COVID. Mostly it'll just be psychological unpleasantness.

If you were watching TV in Australia in the late 1990s, you would know the tagline "Every cigarette is doing you damage."

These days, the message is a bit more positive: "Every cigarette you don't smoke is doing you good."

Have you explored mushrooms? Microdosing may help make the quitting permanent.