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Air Pollution and COVID-19

 Air Pollution linked with COVID-19 Death Rate
    
    If you live in California, it's likely that you've recently experienced days where the air is polluted with smoke from the ongoing wildfires. According to the California Fire Department, there have been over 2 million acres burned due to wildfires this past year alone from January-October 2020. Many California residents have been asked to stay at home these past few months as fires rage across the state and pollute the air. Air pollution is another problem that many people, inside and outside of California, have to battle along with COVID-19 this year. How are the two related? Air pollution is known to irritate and affect the lungs. Many individuals with preexisting respiratory conditions such as asthma are more sensitive and easily irritated by air pollution. COVID-19, another respiratory disease, also has symptoms and complications stemming from lung problems. Does exposure to one of these factors increase risk of severity for another?  A study conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of public health and published in the preprint server MedRxiv, details the relationship between air pollution and COVID-19. 

The Study and Results

    To determine how coronavirus and air pollution may be related, a nationwide study collected COVID-19 death counts for over 3000 counties across the United States up to April 22, 2020. Air pollution levels were compared between counties while confounding factors such as population size, weather, socioeconomic class, and behavioral variables including obesity and smoking were adjusted accordingly.
    Before diving into the results, we should familiarize ourselves with air quality levels. 
  • The unit μg/m^3 measures the amount of pollutants in the air in micrograms (one millionth of a gram) per cubic meter.  
  • PM 2.5, or fine particulate matter, are tiny particles of air pollutants generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller. These particles are emitted directly from fires or form as a result of emissions from power plants, industries and cars.
    The results found that an increase of only 1 μg/m^3 in PM 2.5 is associated with an 8% increase of COVID-19 death rate. In other words, a small increase of PM 2.5 exposure will leads to a high increase of COVID-19 death rate. 

Indications

    The results indicate that regions with higher pollution levels, whether it's due to smoke from wildfires or carbon emissions, will have higher numbers of hospitalizations and higher numbers of death from COVID-19. This study further highlights the importance of keeping our air clean and decreasing the amount of pollutants in the atmosphere. Lowering the amount of PM 2.5 by just one unit could prevent hundreds of deaths due to COVID-19. Now more than ever, people should be mindful of their ecological footprint and maintain a clean and healthy planet.

Sources

1. Wu, Xiao, et al. “Exposure to Air Pollution and COVID-19 Mortality in the United States: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.” MedRxiv, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1 Jan. 2020, www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.05.20054502v2.

2. “Particulate Matter (PM) Basics.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 1 Oct. 2020, www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/particulate-matter-pm-basics. 

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