A Surprise Surge in Air Pollution May Be Causing More Coronavirus Complications

Lax federal enforcement of air quality standards linked to poorer health across America

Photo: James Jordan Photography/Getty Images

Spikes in pollution caused by a federal relaxation of air quality standards in March led to increases in Covid-19 deaths in the most industrialized areas of the United States, new research suggests. Meanwhile, several other recent studies reveal that people who live in the most polluted areas are more likely to be infected by Covid-19 when exposed to the coronavirus, and then are more likely to suffer severe symptoms and die from the disease.

The revelations, which many scientists have been expecting since air pollution is known to exacerbate respiratory diseases, are based on early pandemic data and studies that mostly have not yet gone through peer review by other scientists. They come as the White House is working to roll back numerous clean-air regulations, and as air pollution—which was declining for decades — is surging back.

Because many of the nation’s worst polluters are concentrated in lower-income areas with high proportions of people of color, air pollution and any relaxation of air quality standards have a disproportionately negative impact — on health in general and with Covid-19 specifically — for populations that are already suffering systemic barriers to good health.

“While we might believe that the pandemic lowered pollution everywhere, that in fact has not been true, and in some places pollution increased substantially because of this rollback.”

“Even absent the pandemic, rolling back regulations will have a detrimental effect to public health,” says Francesca Dominici, PhD, a professor of biostatistics, population, and data science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “And now with a pandemic that we know affects our lungs, this is an irresponsible act” that will “further increase health and environmental injustice.”

Exacerbating Covid-19

It’s well established that long-term exposure to air pollution harms lung function and has…