Given that they already have compromised respiratory
systems, does COVID 19 sufferers in cities with high levels of air pollution
more likely to die that their counterparts in clean air locales?
By: Ringo Bones
Public health policymakers have been warning us for decades
that polluted air is a serious threat to people with compromised respiratory
systems – like ones suffering from asthma and related preexisting chronic lung
conditions. Since the year 2000, about a million people die annually in Mainland
China’s urban centers where the air quality falls far below the acceptable
guidelines set by the World Health Organization. But since the advent of the
COVID 19 pandemic, does polluted air spell the death knell to COVID 19
sufferers?
A recently published research from the Harvard University
School of Public Health shows that COVID 19 sufferers living in cities with
severe levels of air pollution are more likely to die than ones living in
regions with much cleaner air. Even though pollution levels in cities have
declined since lockdown measures were enforced. Polluted cities COVID 19 death
rates are up to a third higher compared to cities with cleaner air and stricter
enforced clean air policies.
Given that the Trump administration had rolled back the EPA’s
Clean Air Act back in 2017, the increased levels of COVID 19 deaths in the
United States could be attributable to increased pollution levels in major
metropolitan areas. The Harvard study now highlights the importance of effectively enforced clean
air laws when it comes to formulating public health policy.
