Recent investigations have shown a more negative relationship between Coronavirus and air pollution than beneficial. Air pollutants are risk factors for respiratory infections, and COVID-19 is not an exception. An air pollutant is simply any foreign substance that can affect the air quality and make it impure or dangerous to health. This article answers such questions and provides more information on virus exposure and how meteorological factors affect it.
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What is COVID-19?
Google scholar explains COVID-19 as an infection that affects the organs involved in respiration. It was first discovered in Wuhan, China, and within a short period, it rapidly moved to other parts of the world, eventually becoming a global epidemic.
Research has shown that one of the easiest ways to get infected is exposure to anyone or anything which already has the disease. Also, a study has demonstrated that COVID-19 can be transmitted in two ways; directly or indirectly.
The first mode of transmission is the direct way. This happens when SARS-CoV-2 bioaerosol is transferred as particulate matter through the air in droplet nuclei and other fluids from the body into the internal atmosphere. This could be from mother to infant. In the indirect mode, the infection can be caused by a fomite that rests on any surface with which an infected person has had contact.
According to the information at https://studydriver.com/air-pollution-essay/, air pollution can increase the chances of getting infected. This has been explained by the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) in respiratory epithelial cells exposed to air pollution. The lockdown observed in many countries due to the pandemic had a lot of advantages.
Although COVID-19 was the major reason for it, there are also other causes of climate change that affect the atmospheric condition of the environment. Some of these include temperature, wind, and relative humidity. The lockdown helped to reduce the transfer of potential viruses.
Covid-19 and Air Pollution?
According to Crossref, Google scholar, the relation between these and COVID-19 is still quite vague. Investigations have proven that this connection has both positive and negative effects on the environment. Another study has also shown that air pollution has an association with the high mortality rates of COVID-19.
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There is also proof that the boost in the severity of COVID-19 results from being open to higher air concentration levels, including PM2.5, PM10, CO, NO2, SO2, and O3. Here is a good example; Crossref Cole et al. have discovered being exposed to PM2.5 long-term has increased the risk of cardiovascular deaths and hospital admissions by 11%.
Also, according to a study conducted in Milan, Italy, all issues that were reported daily were positively related to the average surface PM2.5 and the daily maximum PM10 (25). Crossref google scholar states investigations have tried to show the correlation between O3 and NOx and COVID-19, but it is still vague to a large extent. More researchers have found a connection between NOx and COVID-19 in various cities in the world. But, O3 has also been correlated with COVID-19 as the role in flagging SARS-CoV-2 spread.
According to a Google scholar, there has been little investigation about the connection between CO and SO2. Sangkham et al. also discovered that increases in CO and SO2 were associated with decreases in the number of COVID-19 cases. At the same time, another investigation showed that 1 g/m3 CO is associated with a 15.11% addition in the daily count of confirmed COVID-19 infections.
An SO2 concentration of 10 g/m3 was correlated with a total of 7.79% decrease in its pollution rate in China. This resulted in insufficient evidence in terms of concluding the findings for CO and SO2 in the current investigation, leading to these variables being both associated with SARS-CoV-2 in a good and bad way.
However, at the same time, some investigations have suggested that the effects of COVID-19 pollution can indirectly help solve the problem of air pollution. Mostafa et al. (29) made a report which indicates a strong connection between COVID-19 lockdown and a 15–33% reduction in NO2 and 5% reduction in Egypt. A crossref by Kumari and Toshniwal also reviewed a similar study in India.
They calculated that the COVID-19 lockdown could reduce the effect of PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and SO2 concentrations by 55, 49, 60, and 19%, respectively, in Delhi and Mumbai. This was confirmed by Wetchayont, who discovered that air concentrations, such as PM2.5, PM10, O3, and CO, showed a significant reduction during the outbreak in Bangkok, Thailand.
According to a recent statistical analysis, a crossref by Google Scholar says COVID-19 is the major cause of death and economic downturn increase in the United States. This can also prove to be correct in other parts of the world.
Conclusion
Google scholar suggests that most human interactions happen in places like offices, parks, markets, and other places prone to exposure. This is one way the infection has been able to move around rapidly. This commonly occurs as a result of sneezing, the exchange of body fluids through contact, and other ways.
However, there are still some investigations to prove that the initial viral pathogen escaped from a lab. Whatever the cause was, studies through science investigations have provided proof that climate change has helped in its airborne transmission.
Various institutions such as Yale University are working to create a review that will be publicly available to demonstrate how COVID-19 spreads along with other helpful information that will help to protect environmental and public health.