Association between air pollution and COVID-19 infection: evidence from data at national and municipal levels

Abstract

The impact of high concentrations of air pollution on COVID-19 has been a major air quality and life safety issue in recent studies. This study aimed to assess the contribution of different air pollution indicators in different spaces on the newly confirmed cases of coronavirus. According to causality’s results between air pollution (AP) and COVID-19 infection in 9 countries, first, we examined the non-linear relationship from AP to COVID-19 with PM 2.5 as the rating variable (the cut point is 35 μg/m 3 ) at the national level. It is concluded that the effects of PM 2.5 and PM 10 on COVID-19 are more sensitive in Russia, England, Germany, and France, while O 3 and PM 2.5 are more sensitive in America and Canada from 21 Jan to 20 May. Second, we examined the threshold effects from AP to COVID-19 with PM 2.5 , PM 10 , SO 2 , CO, NO 2 , and O 3 as the threshold variables, respectively, at the municipal level in China during the period 28 Jan to 31 May. It is concluded that except CO, the remaining 5 indicators are very sensitive to the increase of newly confirmed cases, and the spread of COVID-19 can be prevented and controlled by the determination of thresholds. In addition, the 9 countries and 27 provinces show that PM 2.5 in high concentrations is the more sensitive pollutant on the spread of COVID-19 infection.

Emerging role of air pollution and meteorological parameters in COVID‐19

“…49 relationship between air pollution and COVID-19 infection in 9 countries, and showed that O 3 has a positive effect on COVID-19 infection in many countries across north America, Europe, and Asia. 2 However, several other studies reported negative association between O 3 and the number of infected individuals. 53,56,71,79 In a study by Jiang et al, the correlation between O 3 and daily incidence was positive in some areas (eg, Huanggang City), but negative in other areas (eg, Wuhan and Xiaogan City).…”

“…50 A study in India using machine learning verified a causal relationship between PM 2.5 and COVID-19 deaths. 51 Similarly, many studies have shown positive correlations between PM 2.5 , PM 10 and daily new COVID-19 cases and mortality, 2,42,44,[46][47][48][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69] indicating that air pollution increases susceptibility to COVID-19.…”

“…47,78 CO increased the propagation speed of COVID-19 infection, especially in Korea and China. 2 Similarly, there are inconsistent results. Pei et al explored the effects of environmental and meteorological factors on COVID-19 using the GWR model and found that CO exhibited negative effects.…”

Shock effect of COVID-19 infection on environmental quality and economic development in China: causal linkages (Health Economic Evaluation)

“…Chege and Wang ( 2020 ) employ partial least squares regression and correlation models to dig out the linear relations between the two. In addition, Liu et al ( 2021 ) point out that the threshold effect of air pollution on the spread of COVID-19 infection is existed, and the increase of air pollution will greatly intensify the newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 before the threshold is reached, but this aggravating effect will be weakened after the threshold. The above studies show that different types of environmental quality are negative or nonlinear related to economic development, significantly.…”

“…Many studies have shown that the incidence of the risk factors associated with the development of the disease can also be caused by a long exposure to air pollution (Guo et al, 2020 ; Saeha et al, 2020 ). Accordingly, previous studies have suggested that ambient air pollutants are risk factors for respiratory infection by carrying microorganisms to make pathogens more invasive to humans and affecting body’s immunity to make people more susceptible to pathogens (Liu et al, 2021 ; Xu et al, 2020 ). Hence, it is meaningful to discuss economic development and environmental pollution, and it is also necessary to consider the impact of COVID-19 infection between them, especially since the outbreak.…”