New Study Links Coronavirus Deaths to Air Pollution

By Lynn Allison(NEWSMAX)

Air pollution increases the risk of dying from the coronavirus, says a new study. According to an abstract published in IOP Science, there is a link between hazardous air pollutants, or HAPs, and rates of mortality from COVID-19 in the U.S.

The researchers found a 9% increase in COVID-19 mortality when the respiratory hazard index, a measurement of air quality in the environment, increased.

According to The Hill, the study mentioned diesel exhaust, soot, and smog, along with substances such as naphthalene and acetaldehyde as potential pollutants that contributed to increased death rates from COVID-19.

The researchers from the State University of New York and ProPublica said that a 1 part per billion increase in ozone concentration, known as smog, triggered a 2% increase in mortality. In April, researchers at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health reported that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution, or PM2.5, led to a large increase in the COVID-19 death rate.

The latest study also found that a 0.9-microgram-per-cubic-meter increase in acetaldehyde concentration resulted in a 24% increase in the coronavirus morality rate, according to The Hill. The researchers gathered their data from an analysis of air pollution and COVID-19 deaths in 3,100 counties.