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Covid-19: peaks in fine particles air pollution suspected of increasing contamination

For epidemiologist Antoine Flahault, pollution episodes could “be one of the major determining factors in both the transmission and severity of Covid-19”.
 
In its latest epidemiological update on Thursday March 4, Public Health France noted for the second week in a row that contaminations and hospitalizations linked to Covid-19 started to rise again between the 22nd and February 28. What if this rebound was not only due to the increasing spread of more transmissible variants but also to another phenomenon that has gone under the radar: peaks in fine particle air pollution?

"It's entirely possible, tells MondeAntoine Flahault, professor of public health and director of the Institute of Global Health (University of Geneva). It is possible that air pollution by fine particles is responsible for worsening the epidemic both in the number of new contaminations and hospitalizations of Covid-19 cases.  »

From Corsica to Hauts-de-France, via the Grand-Est, Rhônes-Alpes-Auvergne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine or Ile-de-France, numerous regions were affected by three episodes of pollution linked to rising sand dust from the Sahara. The last one has just ended.

The previous two occurred in early February and the week of February 22. Combined with favorable weather conditions (anticyclone and temperature inversion) and other sources of fine particle emissions (domestic heating, road traffic, agricultural spraying), the phenomenon has generated significant peaks in fine particle pollution.

 

Full article (Fr) : Le Monde

 

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