COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent global need to control air pollution.

[2greys]

A new commentary published online in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society provides an exhaustive examination of published research that discusses whether air pollution may be linked to worse COVID-19 outcomes. The studies that the authors examined look at several potential disease mechanisms, and also at the relationship between pollution, respiratory viruses and health disparities.

In “COVID-19 Pandemic: A Wake-Up Call for Clean Air,” Stephen Andrew Mein, MD, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, and colleagues discuss several ways that the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need to address the global problem of air pollution through sustainable local and national policies to improve respiratory health and equity worldwide. More than 91 percent of the world’s population lives in areas that exceed the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines and more people are impacted by worsening air quality each year.

bioengineer.org/covid-19-pa...

American Thoracic Society. Study Paper (PDF file):

atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10....

[RoadRunner44]

I have already written to my MP about this. If I get a reply... Grea!, if I don't it will be blamed on the pandemic no doubt. I hope other members write to their MP to highlight these issues. I included the links too.

[Alberta56]

Many of us have known for years how evil pollution is, but not many other people seem to realise this. Neighbours have apologised to me for smoking my washing, but not for clogging up my lungs. I am sure it also plays a big part in the decline of wildlife. My local swifts have gone; there's nothing for them to eat.