Key result
Air pollution impairs respiratory defenses and exacerbates COVID-19 severity, intensifying the need for mitigation.
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Although the attention of the world and the global health community specifically is deservedly focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, other determinants of health continue to have large impacts and may also interact with COVID-19. Air pollution is one crucial example. Established evidence from other respiratory viruses and emerging evidence for COVID-19 specifically indicates that air pollution alters respiratory defense mechanisms leading to worsened infection severity. Air pollution also contributes to co-morbidities that are known to worsen outcomes amongst those infected with COVID-19, and air pollution may also enhance infection transmission due to its impact on more frequent coughing. Yet despite the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are reasons for optimism: broad societal lockdowns have shown us a glimpse of what a future with strong air pollution measures could yield. Thus, the urgency to combat air pollution is not diminished, but instead heightened in the context of the pandemic.
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Bräuer et al. (2021) conducted an editorial in Air pollution and COVID-19. Air pollution was evaluated. Air pollution worsens respiratory defense mechanisms and COVID-19 infection severity, highlighting the heightened urgency for strong air pollution mitigation measures during the pandemic.
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